A kinsmen's Journey
by AGENT MUTE
Summary: I died in my world, and now I follow my brother, I shall protect him and all that he cares for, and all that stand in his path shall fall.
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a bit of personal fanfiction cause I can't focus on "in another world" because I keep on coming up with ideas for this show.**

 **I will be using the Manga for the most part and not the anime, mostly because I ended up buying all 8 of them, and reading them within a week.**

 **So please enjoy**

" **This is speaking"**

' **This is thinking'**

 **#this is thought-communication and things similar#**

 **Chapter 1 Where am I?**

 **Norway, Trondheim Ragnar's POV**

As I walked around my hometown I saw some of my comrades from the academy, you may be wondering "what academy?", Well, the military science academy, where people who want to develop new equipment and weaponry, work and study,

my team is researching the possibility of making metals and other materials by changing the atomic structure of atoms by taking the electrons from larger atoms and add them to smaller atoms, so far we have been able to make small changes, but we are worried about what might happen if we use hydrogen as fuel, Hydrogen has only one electron so we've been careful to make sure we keep the test room clean and sterile,

"Ragnar!" Someone yelled as I turned I saw that it was one of my subordinates, Henrik, I've known him since childhood, he seemed worried.

"Calm down Henrik, what is it?" I asked him

"It's the fabricator it reactivated itself," he said 'What that should be impossible, we don't even have a battery for it much less a way for it to reactivate, it's unplugged if we're not using it,'

"What do you mean, that's impossible," I said as I walked to my car and got in, 'whatever is going on I need to stop it before the fabricator splits the atom or something,'

* * *

When I arrived at the lab I could see what was going on, the fabricator was using the surrounding atoms as material, but it wasn't being selective on what it was making

it was causing a vacuum to form, luckily the glass and walls were all made to sustain the pressures of space, and that was good but there's one problem, the fabricator was not plugged in, meaning that we don't know when it's gonna stop if it's going to stop,

"We think we've figured out a way to turn off the fabricator, but it's risky," Oscar said as he leaned over a table with the blueprints of the machine

"What is it?" I asked as walked over to him

"Someone would need to get under the fabricator and then remove the main regulator circuit, which should cause the whole process to deactivate," Oscar explained

"It's too dangerous!" Henrik stated, but I had already gone inside and sealed the door if the machine wasn't stopped it could cause massive damage to the world,

" **Ragnar! stop! Don't do this!"** I heard Henrik say through the glass as he tried to break through the door, as the others quickly stopped him, everything burned as all the different atoms reacted with each other and poisoned the air I inhaled

"I'm sorry," I said as I ran to the machine and got under it and open the panel I had a wire cutter, but then as I cut the first wire, the fabricator began to malfunction as the wire cutter turned to sand and my hand that was holding it began to hurt, I screamed in pain as it felt like someone was sticking shards of glass in to my hand

As I looked upon I could see that I had become metal to yet I could still move my hand, so I did the only thing I could think of, I grabbed the next wire with my other hand and my mind began to fade and cut it and then cut the next wire immediately after,

As my mind began to fade I could numbly hear the sound of the fabricator powering down and a door opening,

"Ragnar! Stay with us!" I heard a voice say I looked up, it was Henrik "Hang in there with got a chopper on the way to take you to the hospital,"

"You know they can't fix this…. they can't turn metal back to flesh and bone," I said as I coughed up blood and metal 'if only my body wasn't so weak'

 **|Understood: generating body able to sustain heavy damage and matter manipulation,|**

"you need to promise me two things, don't laugh at the first one," I said

"I promise, just tell me," he said 'I've known him all my life and yet I've never even thought about what he is to me, a friend maybe'

"Please wipe my PC's hard-drive and delete my browser history, haha…"

"Of course you would say that, I'll do it so don't worry," Henrik said

"Promise me that you will finish the project…. this project…. is more than just some way to solve our… lack of resources, this could solve all the world's problems…. and ascend us to… to godhood," I said as I coughed up more blood and metal 'it's so cold and it's so painful, I would have liked to visit my grandparents again…'

* * *

'Where… am….I' I feel like I was drifting 'what… happened' as I pondered this I remember what had happened 'the lab… there was an accident… I must be in a hospital, wait I can't hear anything… no beeping, no talking… wait, no, there is something….'

 **Drip drip**

'Water dripping, but that echo, am I in a cave!' as my sense of sound returned I could hear everything, but I still couldn't see, but I could feel around my self, it felt almost soft,

#Hello? anyone!# I screamed yet no-one replied

#What was that?# I heard someone say,

#Hello, who's there, show yourself!# I said as I looked around myself, I could almost sense where they were,

#I don't know where I am, but my name is Satoru Mikami. What is yours?# the voice now named as Satoru Mikami said, it seemed like it was he considering the name, but the voice was androgynous,

#I guess it's nice to meet you Satoru, are you from Japan by chance?# I asked them, there was an accent to their voice, that I knew was Japanese due to having visited the country once before,

#Yes, Where are you from?# Satoru asked as I started to move my body and followed where I thought the voice was coming from

#I'm from Norway,# I said as I got closer, I knew I was close because their voice was becoming clearer, I then saw or felt their presence unlike like with the walls of the cave, I could tell this was them it was strange I could feel that they were there, but I couldn't see, feel or hear, the water dripping felt similar to how I knew where he was,

#Hey, I'm right next to you,# I said as I floated next to him he was in a field of plants and eating them or something, he was a slime if I could guess by how the body shape, and while normally I should be freaking out that there is a monster that isn't supposed to be exist, but I was floating so I was just suspending my disbelief

#Ah really, sorry I can't see anything,# they said 'damn that's annoying'

 **|Do you wish to become kinsmen?|** a feminine voice said in my mind

#What was that?# I asked 'Kinsmen? What does that mean?'

#You can hear her too, that's great sage, she is my unique skill, but what does it mean by becoming Kinsmen?#

 **|You will become similar to brothers, this is possible due to having similar experiences, this connection will cause you to share learned skills, excluding racial skills|** great sage said

#Well, I wouldn't mind, I mean it would be best, we should stick together, after all, we don't know what could happen,# I said

#Agreed, great sage we want to become Kinsmen,# he said

 **|Very well, beginning bonding,|** great sage announced and I could feel my senses change and all of the usual pains I knew faded,

* * *

 **|skills: "Sage" and "predator" acquired, skills: "Sage" and "leader" combined into "Sage lord",|** I heard a different voice from the one before, as while great sage sounded robotic and wise. This one sounded more like a sagacious commander they both were feminine in tone

#Now then, what are we gonna do now?# I asked I mean what were we supposed to do,

#Well, I don't know maybe we should explore where we are?# the slime said

#I guess,# I agreed, and thus began our exploration of the cave that we inhabited, and the encounter that would begin our adventure throughout this new world,

 **That is all, see you all next chapter,**

 **One thing I need to say is that I will be slower than before as I have school now, so I need to focus on School, but I will upload any chapters that I finish, and I am trying to make these chapters about, one story event long, but if the event is very long it will be split into multiple parts,**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back, I hope you are enjoying the story despite how short the first chapter was, for my standards at least**

 **So please enjoy**

" **This is speaking"**

' **This is thinking'**

 **#this is thought-communication and things similar#**

 **Chapter 2 Thank you for the name!**

 **Multiple days later, ?'s POV**

It has been a while since I realized it, but I don't refer to myself or my brother by our old names, it's not like I don't remember, I remember who I was, but it's more like they're a different person,

I watched my brother speeding around and eating plants while I consumed the metals around here when I noticed he was about to fly off a cliff

#Watch out!# I yelled, but it was too late, and I followed him as he fell and floated next to him as he sank into the water,

'Come on, don't leave me,' **|Do not worry, Slimes do not require oxygen|** Sage lord said to me, so I was left to ponder how he would be able to get out of the water until he began to expand and water flooded towards his front, and he took off at a high speed

 **|Skill: "water pressure propulsion" acquired|** Lord said to me as I blown away, I got to my feet fast, followed my brother's example and used my new skill to follow my brother as he shot out of the water, and slammed into something probably a rock

#Are you okay!# I asked to which I got a groan of confirmation

"Can you hear me, little ones?" I heard someone ask their voice was rough it was coming from the rock, well it wasn't a rock cause rocks don't talk,

#What are we supposed to say, wait, can we even talk,# I said

"Hello? answer me-" #We're trying asshole!# My brother snapped at the person

" "asshole"...? Ahhh… I suppose you have a death wish." the voice stated with venom dripping from his words 'we're so dead,'

#Sorry, we didn't know that you could hear us,# I said to the person

#This is a conversation of the mind,# The voice stated

#Ahh. well, we can't actually see, so… um. Who are you?# My brother stated

#Me? My name is… well, I suppose it doesn't matter if you cannot even see me. In that case, I shall help you to see, but only if you do not panic when you see me.# The voice offered

#I don't see anything wrong with it, I accept your terms,# I stated with my brother nodding

#there is a skill called "magic sense" it will allow you to detect magicules in your surroundings,# the voice stated

#You can gain this skill by sensing the movement of Magicules outside of your body, then you will be able to "see" and "hear" the outside world,# it continued 'so it's something similar to what I was doing already, but I wasn't sensing the stuff around me it was more like, they were just telling me where they were there,'

'So reach out to the magicules, and trace their location… '

 **|Extra skill: "magic sense" acquired,|**

'That was easy, jeez that's gotta be like a lv. 1 skill,'

 **|In order to manage the great amount of information gained by this, it is recommended to sync the results with "Sage Lord"|**

'Fine sync the results with Sage Lord,'

 **|Do you wish to activate "magic sense"?|** Lord asked 'yes, do it,'

Immediately the foggy and murky details of the cave become clearer and now I could see the cave that I had been inhabiting for the first time, I could see the crystals protruding from the cave walls and the bright colors that floated near them, while before I could "sense" where things were, but it felt more like I was being told where everything was in a room,

As I looked around I saw my brother who was indeed a slime, go to a nearby stream that ran through this cave, I followed him, and looked into the stream and at my reflection,

I Looked like a futuristic robot, my head wasn't human in appearance, instead, it was like a helmet with two slits for eyes 'why couldn't I see?'

 **|Answer: your "eyes" Lacked a calibration preset,|** Lord said to me 'so I couldn't see because my eyes had no idea what they were meant to pick up?'

 **|Correct.|**

As I continued to analyze my form I noticed something behind me so I turned my head to look at it, and to my surprise, it was a pair of transparent wings that had a hexagonal pattern that seemed to flow across it,

they looked a lot like insect wings and the length of the wings was thicker than the rest and seemed to be where the hexagonal pattern came from,

#It seems that you were successful.#

#yes, thank you, so-,# Brother said as we turned to look at the man that helped us,

#Then I shall introduce myself now,#

" **I am Veldora, the Storm dragon!"** Veldora shouted **"One of just four dragons in this world! Kwahahahahaha!"**

"Hrm? I told you not to panic," the dragon stated as he looked at our shivering state and I could taste the snark in his tone

#That's not fair, we weren't expecting you to shout at us like that!# I shouted at him, you know normally yelling at someone who could easily kill you, would be stupid, but when someone teases me I just have to respond.

"Apologizes, I did not intend to make you angry," he stated 'guess I caught him off guard, this is awkward,'

#No, I'm sorry I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, you were just trying to have some fun… Well it is nice to meet you Veldora,# I said to him

"It is nice to meet you as well… have you by chance been named?" he asked 'named what does he mean?'

#Well no, not in this life, but in my previous life I did have a name, and so did my bond-brother,# I said to the dragon

"You are bond-brothers… truly, that could only mean… you are both not of this world, are you?" he said as he looked at us, 'I… how did he… '

#You are correct, I was stabbed and died in my world,# my brother said sensing my hesitation,

"That is an extraordinarily rare way to be born here. We do have the occasional rebirth or traveler from elsewhere, but never have I heard of a person or even two being reincarnated in this world." Veldora stated 'Jeez, way to make a robot android thing feel out of place,'

#So there are others who have come here?# brother asked

"Indeed, from what I hear, those who cross into this world gain powers according to their desires," Veldora explained 'wow, so this is basically an isekai anime world'

#Hey, maybe there's another Japanese person here, guess I could try to seek them out.#

#Or another Norwegian,# I said I didn't really care about finding other people from our old world, I just wanna be with my brother,

"I see… so you will be leaving me," Veldora said, he seemed very lonely

#Are you stuck here, Veldora?# brother asked

"I am, I have been trapped in this cave ever since a hero sealed me in here, 300 years ago. It's sooo boring." the dragon explained he went on and talked about how he was defeated, but one thing was clear

#Maybe you lost because you were taking with her looks…?# brother asked the dragon

"Wha…? How dare you suggest that!" Veldora shouted, but he still kept on describing the woman's looks 'he really isn't that scary when I look at him, he just seems lonely,'

#Okay! So...ya wanna be friends with us?# 'really, was that the best way to continue this conversation,'

"You! A Slime? Dare to be "friends" with the great storm dragon Veldora?" Veldora shouted I kinda zoned out cause I started imagining what it would be like if a cute girl said it,

#I do insist! So that settles it! And if you say no, We'll never come back!# the slime said as he turned away from the dragon making me look stupid as I just mimic my brother and turned from Veldora,

"You leave me no choice! I allow you to be my friend" the dragon said 'How the fuck did that even work, is Veldora so lonely, that just the threat of being left alone is enough to coerce him into agreeing,'

#We should probably find a way to free you, I wouldn't feel right about just abandoning you here,# I said, trying to ignore the mind-blowing situation

"Hmm?" Veldora just looked like he was confused

#What, did ya think I would just abandon a friend in need?# I said to the dragon as my brother approached the barrier caging our friend, and attempted to use predator on it, only for it to fail

#Great sage is there any way to break the barrier containing Veldora?# The slime asked their skill

#I would assume there's no practical way to free him that is known, other than to wait til Veldora is dead or to get the hero who trapped him in here to free him,#

 **|Correct, though there is one method of freeing him that, but it will require data from both the inside and outside of the barrier,|** Lord said to me

#But how would we get data from the inside, we can get the data on the outside, but we can't get the data on the inside, or can we…# I murmured

"Hey, don't just talk to your skill!"

#Jeez, no reason to get jealous we're trying to free you,# I said to Veldora

"I, the great Storm dragon Veldora would never be jealous," the dragon pouted

#Are you sure? You seem to be jealous, or are you mad that we're still here maybe we should just leave?# I said to him 'he's so easy to tease'

#Enough! Jeez, I figured out how to get you out Veldora, if we analyze both the inside and outside of "Unlimited Imprisonment," we might be able to undo it,# Brother said 'so what I said is just gonna be ignored,'

"Ah, however, my skills, like my body, are sealed and imprisoned," Veldora stated

#All we need from you is information, My brother's Skill "Great Sage" and my skill "Sage lord" will do the analysis,# I said

"But that will take time, do you not wish to leave this place and reunite with your fellows from home?" Veldora said

#Exactly, so here's the plan, how about you squeeze into my stomach, Veldora?#

'What did he just say?' I was so shocked by my brother's suggestion that I didn't hear the beginning of Veldora's three-stage laugh, and got scared shitless when the dragon burst out laughing and fell on my ass, making the dragon laugh even hard

"Kahahaha! Very interesting! Do it! And I shall entrust myself to you!" Veldora said 'has he gone insane or something?'

#really? You're just gonna trust me like that?# my brother said he probably also thought he would need to talk the dragon into it

"Of course! Trying to break out of this "Unlimited Imprisonment" together, will bring much more enjoyment than waiting alone for your return!" Veldora said 'so he has gone mad,'

#Okay, first I'm gonna use "predator" to eat you…# the slime said to the dragon

"Oh, but before that, I shall name you both, and you must also think of a name we shall share, it will imprint our status as equals upon our souls," Veldora said as he began to think of a name for us while murmuring names under his breath,

'Storm, Stormcaller? No too simple, hurricane, tornado, Tempest-' my thoughts were interrupted when my brother said #what about tempest?#

"It is glorious! There has never been a better name! From this day forward, my name shall be Veldora Tempest!" the newly named Veldora said

"And you shall have… Rimuru, you may call yourself Rimuru Tempest," Veldora said to my brother and turned to me

"And your name shall be… Hotaru, you may call yourself Hotaru Tempest," the dragon said, once the words left his mouth, I felt power surge through me as my new name became imprinted upon me,

"Proceed, my friend," Veldora said

#All, right, Veldora, you ready to escape your unlimited imprisonment?# Rimuru asked our newest family member 'is he our younger or older brother?'

"I am ready! Don't keep me waiting. We shall become one, rimuru," Veldora said as Rimuru rapidly expanded almost like an explosion of Slime as he covered the barrier and Veldora, and slowly stored the massive dragon inside his stomach that acted like some sort of game inventory,

 **|Shall I analyze the unique skill "Unlimited Imprisonment"?|** Lord asked me as Rimuru returned to normal size, 'yes! do it!'

#What will we do now?# I asked Rimuru as I floated down to him,

#I don't know, why don't we try to make our way out of this cave "Hotaru"... # Rimuru said as he began to move toward a random cave opening that seemed to go upwards

#Why did you say my name weirdly?# I asked as I followed after him

#Hotaru means firefly,# he said 'damn that is a super girly name, I guess I have something to do when we release Veldora,'

 **And this concludes chapter 2**

 **I have a rule that I can only upload one chapter a month max so be happy I posted this one since someone pm'd me begging me to post a new chapter and I was pretty much done with this one,**

 **But that still makes me happy since you all seem to really enjoy the first chapter, well anyway see ya all later when I upload chp 3**


	3. Chapter 3

**Merry Christmas and welcome back. This chapter was really hard to make since I've had this constant headache**

 **The reason I try to only do 1 chapter a month, is so that I have time to plan how things will work out, and so that things link together correctly so that plot mistakes are harder to make,**

" **This is speaking"**

' **This is thinking'**

 **# This is thought communication #**

 **Chapter 3 cave escape**

 **The sealed cave, Hotaru POV**

It's been about a week (if Lord is to be trusted,) since my brother and I was named by Veldora, and we started our journey to get out of this cave,

I could tell that the Air Magicules were becoming more and more active and colorful, so I think we're going the right way, we're still collecting minerals as we come across them, so if we find some use for them then we won't have to worry about lacking material,

# Hey I wanna try something, could you get behind me? # Rimuru asked me to which I simply nodded, 'what's he up to?' I wondered as I watched him until suddenly a line of blue shot out of his mouth and cut the top off a rock **| skill earned "water blade" |**

# Awesome! That was really incredible, # I said to him as I floated over to the rock to look at the damage 'it cut the rock clean, this could easily kill someone… '

# Really, Thank you! # he said as he blushed 'that's so cute!'

# But I wonder if I can use **Water blade** since I'm not a slime and I just absorb the material into my body, and on top of that I don't have a distinct place to shoot the water out of, # I murmured

 **| Incorrect, there are firing ports on the top of your forearm and shoulder, |** Lord said 'how do I activate them, do I say something or do I just think it, guess I'll try option two first since I won't look stupid doing it.'

As I closed my eyes and began to focus on the idea of having weapons on my forearm I heard a distinct "Click" and the sound of metal joints moving,

When the sound stopped I opened my eyes and looked at my arms, I could see a small almost vent like slits protruding from my forearms, without a second thought I pointed my left arm at a rock and fired, cutting the rock in half

# So cool! That was amazing Hotaru! # Rimuru praised me making me blush inside 'man am I happy he can't see me blush,'

# Thanks, but I've still got a lot of work to do before I can say with full confidence that I'm not gonna hit anybody by accident, # I said as the firing port retracted back to its hidden form

 **Timeskip**

# Okay I'm going to use **Water propulsion** , but I'm going to try making myself float on the water, # Rimuru as he moved into the water and began to sink for a moment before he began to float **| Skill earned:** **Water movement |**

 **| Skills: Water blade, Water pressure propulsion, and Water movement evolved into Water Manipulation, |** Lord said

'I wanna try it!' I thought before I walked onto the water, but it was more like walking through mud, but the mud doesn't slow you down when you use **Water propulsion** , clearly I was a bit too heavy since my feet where a bit under the water, I could still move around easily, but only if I was using **Water propulsion** , and as you should remember from Rimuru's first time using it, **Water propulsion** is very hard to control, so I've crashed more than I'd like to admit

 **Timeskip**

As we're climbing up to a ledge that seemed to lead out, why was I climbing? well, because the cave ceiling was a lot closer up by the ledge and the stalactites also got in the way, so flying up was a no go,

'What Bullshit! Of course, I have to climb up,' I groaned internally as I climbed up

I was about 2/3 of the way up when I lost my grip

# shit! # I yelled as I fell and landed hard on a lower ledge 'ow! wait, no it didn't hurt, strange,' **| it's due to your bond brothers ability called "Pain nullification" |**

'Oh, cool, wait, I'm a robot why would it matter if my brother had **Pain nullification**?' I asked **| you have sensors similar to nerves, they react to damage in the same way as normal nerves. |** Lord explained 'wow thanks for the lesson on Robot anatomy,' I responded as I stared at the ceiling

 **| Initiating repairs, liquidizing surrounding materials, |** Lord said with a bit bitterness as I felt something begin to seep into and across my body it was weird, but it felt like it was right, comforting even,

As I stood up, I looked at my body and I could see something flowing around the areas that I felt the sensation, 'what's happening, Lord?' I asked

 **| you're capable of material manipulation, however, as you've only mastered water manipulation, repairing your body with other Magicules forms is slower, |** Lord stated

'Lord, why did you say so much extra stuff?' **| I figured that you would ask those questions, so I answered them preemptively, |** Lord explained leaving me gobsmacked

# Hotaru are you okay? # I heard Rimuru ask snapping me out of my daze

# Yeah, just keep on going, I just need a second to gather myself, # I replied to him

# Ok, just hurry, # he said as he continued upwards,

'Lord… well, you weren't wrong,' I thought as I began to climb up to the ledge and lifted myself over it,

When I looked up in front of me I saw Rimuru leap off the cave walls and use **Water blade** to cut off the head of a huge snake

# Incredible! You're incredible Rimuru! # I praised as I walked over to him as the snake's body continued to wiggle and squirm,

# Thank you, that means a lot, # he said as he looked at the snake # maybe if I eat it with predator I will get its abilities, what do you think Hotaru? #

# I don't know, maybe? Well, you might as well try it, # I said as I looked at the path that the snake was blocking,

# 3… 2… 1… # I heard him say, followed by the sound of his body inflating so to be able to consume the reptile

 **| Skills: "Sense heat source" and "poison breath" gained. |** Lord said as I turned to look at Rimuru, 'he did it, I can't stand even the idea of eating something like that, and he felt the same, but he still did what he had to, just like her.'

# You okay, Aneki? # I said 'What the fuck did I just call him! Why did I do that!'

# Y-yes, I'm perfectly alright, why did you call me Aneki? # he asked 'what am I supposed to say,'

# I-it's just Because, you're a lot more mature than me and you kinda reminded me of my older sister, sorry, # I said

# Really? then I guess it's fine, but you call me Aniki, okay?# he said

# Okay! # 'thank god! He just accepted it, I'm soo happy!' I thought as we began to walk the path that seemed to lead out,

 **Timeskip**

As Aniki and I traveled we encountered a huge lizard, it had incredibly thick scales, **| Armorsaurus has appeared |**

# I'll handle it! # Aniki said as a miniature tornado of black mist surrounded him, hiding him from view, it grew taller until it dissipated revealing, a near exact copy of the serpent from before, but I could "sense" that it was Aniki

The giant lizard seemed to hiss in challenge at Aniki, who responded by using **poison breath,** which well melted the lizard into a pile of bile, gore, and entrails,

# …. # Aniki seemed shocked as he turned back to normal

# Disgusting, I guess I'll do this one since you did the last one, # I said as I approached the abomination, 'how do I use **Predator**? Do I just do it the same as my weapons,'

As I focused on consuming the monster, a liquid similar to the one that I saw before began seeping out of my joints, but this one was different as when it touched the corpse, the corpse began to turn to metal,

When the body had become a metal replica of itself. strange tendrils of the metal flowed out it, through the air and into my joints, all in the span of three seconds,

 **| Skill earned: Body armor, |** I heard Lord say as the last tendril entered my body, and I fell to my knees I wasn't exhausted or something, just embarrassed that's all,

# Hotaru! Are you ok? # Aniki said as he next to me, 'Jeez, that must've looked so weird and perverted, I just want to curl up and die,'

# I'm perfectly fine, how about we agree that we don't use **Poison breath** unless we have too, # I said as I stood up shakily, picked up Aniki, held him against my chest for support, and began to walk down the path

After that, the rest of the journey was pretty easy, disturbingly easy even, these monsters fell like paper mache,

my life in the academy told me that no enemy should be this weak, but there wasn't anything, no big ambush or main boss, just a seemingly unending path of monsters, well not that it didn't help that we consumed all our enemies and took their powers like some kinda edge-lord,

* * *

# That thing's huge, # I said as I looked at our foe, it was a huge maybe 15 meters long red centipede, similar to the centipedes that went extinct before even the dinosaurs were around, on the top of the head was a skull-shaped piece of grey chitin,

I activated my right wrist-gun, and fired, the centipede wasn't that tough its body got chopped in two, but it managed to just barely avoid my second shot and just lost its back half and was still alive

It then sprayed a strange gas from its mouth, but we since don't breath it didn't do anything, if the monster could express emotion then I would think it would be shocked, as it saw me fly through the air and grab onto the skull on its head and fired straight into its brain,

# It's dead, the body will spasm a bit, # I said as I jumped off the monster as its body twitched and writhed,

# I see… well done Hotaru, # Aniki said as he moved up next to me and looked at the centipede before consuming it **| Skill earned: "paralysis breath" acquired |**

* * *

# Holy shit, Get that thing away! # Aniki screamed as he starred at a human-sized black and yellow spider as he used **Water blade** several times shredding the spider to bits,

# Think it's dead? Haha, # I said as I walked over to the spider and crouched down over the body,

# I can do it, there's no need for you to do it, # Aniki said knowing what I wanted to do,

# No, I need to get used to doing this myself, # I said before I began to focus on the feeling I felt before, and same as before a liquid flowed out of joints, it turned the body to metal, followed by the metal body turning into tendrils that then returned into my body, but this time it felt different it was more smooth, less brutal 'that sounds so fucked up!' **| Skills: "Sticky thread** ", " **Steel thread" acquired |**

# You okay? # I heard Aniki say as I was keeled over 'still takes a lot out of me to do that, is it because I didn't earn it like Aniki, so my body is still getting used to it?'

# Yes I'm fine, let's keep going, # I said stood straight with a slight shake before I continued walking,

# Hey! wait up! # Aniki shouted

* * *

# And done! # Aniki said as he finished making a huge spider web or Slime web in this case,

# Good job, but why did you make this web its way too close to the ground to be of use, # I said as I looked at the web,

# Uh… well, that's where you come in, I thought that you could go and fly up and knock down one of those bats, # He said as I sighed and shook my head,

# Fine, I'll give it a shot, # I said as I folded out my wings and flew up to a bat with a small limp, but when I got close it sped off,

'Damn it must've spotted me,' I then tried to catch up to it, but it squeezed between a crack in the wall, but I could tell that I couldn't 'fean!'

# Shit! Shit! # I yelled as I tried to slow down

 **Crash**

# Are you okay! # I heard Aniki said as I sat in my crater,

# I'm gonna kill that bitch! # I said as I pulled my self out of the crater and started looking for the bat through the crack, and I could see that it lead to a different part of the cave, 'well, then I guess I know what to do, Lord can we manipulate the Magicules here to seal this opening?'

 **| No, however, you could use the skill "Sticky thread" or its counterpart "Steel thread" to do so, |** she stated 'thanks for the suggestion,'

I then sealed the crack with **Sticky thread** , making it so if it tries to come through it'll get caught,

'Now round two!' I then flew off to find my nemesis luckily since it had that limp when it was flying I can find it,

# Hey! don't forget that we need its body! # Aniki shouted as I spotted the little-shit

# I know! # I shouted as I sped off to my prey,

'you're not getting away this time!' I thought as I saw it get close to the now sealed up crack only to stop right before it landed in the web, but I was too close and body-slammed the bitch, stunning it.

# I got it! # I yelled as I grabbed the confused bat and threw it down on the web that Aniki had made.

# T-thanks! # I heard Aniki say as I floated down to the ground and walked to his web, he already killed the bat and was now absorbing it,

 **| Skills: "Ultrasonic wave", "drain" acquired |** Lord said as Aniki returned to normal size

# You good to go, Aniki? # I said as I picked him and held him against my chest

# S-sure, let's go! # he said

 **Many days later**

after days of wandering through this gigantic cave system, we finally found a door that was made of metal, and was very rusty, maybe even 300 years worth of rust, if it was made out of steel then it would have fallen apart a long time ago, but if the metal is like aluminum then it's possible for the door to last this long,

"I guess this is the exit, but how do we get open-" Aniki said before the door began to open from the other side, I jumped onto the ceiling and used my pitch-black color to hide in the shadow of the stalactites, while my brother hid behind a large pillar,

When the door was wide open three figures walk in cautiously and looked around most likely to watch for any monster that might try to attack them, when they didn't see any they relaxed and started talking in a very familiar language,

"Hah, It finally opened." a man said, he wasn't that old maybe 20s to early 30s, but I was never good at guessing age based on looks, the man carried daggers and if I was to say a class for him I would say assassin, "It's so rusty, the keyhole's falling apart."

"That's no surprise. Nobody's come here in 300 years." another man said he looked very relaxed even stupidly relaxed, but that aside he seemed to be the frontline fighter as he carried a longsword on his back, 'so that door is actually around 300 years old, damn I was spot on.'

"We won't be attacked out of nowhere, right?" a new female voice said she looked very cute and seemed around 18-23 ish, she was the spellcaster of the group, she carried a staff with a gem or rock on the top that lit up, "Of course, if it comes to it, we can always use **Escape** …"

'Lord,' **| Understood: they are all humans, the reason that you can understand them is that your "Magic sense" translates the intention behind their words into ones that you understand, and by making sound waves that carry your thoughts you can talk to them, |** Lord said 'good job,'

"All right, I'm gonna activate my **stealth arts**." the first guy said before he slammed his fist together and quickly became invisible, 'so cool!' I thought, but they still leave footprints on the ground as they walked through the cave and out of view,

When I thought they wouldn't see me I lowered myself to the ground and walked with Aniki who was already on his way out 'jeez, was he really gonna forget about me, leaving like you don't have a little sister…. What did I-, no it's little brother, not that other thing, why did I think little sister, Lord what's happing to me?'

 **| It may be the effects of naming, if done by an entity as strong as the storm dragon, Veldora, it could possibly have such an effect, |** Lord said 'great now I have two things to do when we free him, first I'm gonna beat him to a pulp and then I'm gonna castrate him,'

* * *

"I'm gonna stretch my legs Aniki, so I think I'll go for a run," I said as I jumped up onto a nearby tree branch

"Oi! Don't run off too far!" He shouted, but I had already runoff

I really like nature, I could never stand running on a treadmill instead of running through a forest trail, so when I see a forest as beautiful and clean as this one I can't stop myself I just want to see everything in it,

After I ran around for a good while I stopped and rested myself on the sturdy branch of a very big tree, and began to drift off to sleep, since no-one could see me up here I was safe from anyone trying to attack me,

'I think this life will be amazing, and even if I change at least **He** won't,' I thought as I drifted off to sleep

 **Hope you enjoy, this chapter was about twice as long, as usual, so I split it into two chapters because I was writing more than I should in one chapter, but it still became pretty big**

 **Aniki means one's own big brother in Japanese, I think, my Japanese is pretty crap,**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome back sorry for taking so long,**

 **Chapter 4 goblins and wolves**

I was running… "Aniki! Where are you? Aniki!" I screamed as I ran, everything was on fire, it was like the whole forest was on fire, I could hear screams and cry.

"Hotaru!" I heard a voice scream, 'Aniki?' my feet moved faster than I thought possible as I ran to the voice

"Aniki!" I yelled as I neared the voice, and I saw him, his human form laid sprawled across the ground,

"Ho...taru *cough* you're alright," he said as he laid in a pool of blood

"Don't talk, Aniki save your strength," I said as I huddled over him and held his arm

"I'm sorry,"

"Shut up, stay with me, you got that! Just hold on a little longer, I-I can fix this I promise!" I yelled as I tightened my grip around his hand

"You can't, after all, you need me to do everything right," he said flatly as his grip around my hand tightened painfully so,

"What are you… talking about?" I said as I tried to pry my hand free, but before I could react my world started spinning before I felt an immense pain in my back,

"So WEAK!" I heard him shout, as I sat up and looking around for my attacker, but there was only him, with the arm I held him with, held tightly in his grasp,

"W-why are you doing this!" I shouted as I stood up and backed away from him until my back hit a rock wall there was no way I could scale the wall with only one arm,

"Why? WHY!? Because you're weak, useless, I'm tired of having to carry you and help you with anything that fights back even the slightest," he said as he clenched his hand, as my detached arm was crushed together, it finally broke with a resounding screech,

"See what I mean, just look at this pathetic waste of tech," He said as the pieces fell to the ground, I tried to make a break for it, but before I made it far, as my feet were suddenly tied making me fall to the ground,

"Oh, trying to run," he said as threads wrapped around my body,

"Aniki... stop... please," I cried as I felt the threads tighten before…

* * *

# Ho… ru…. Hotaru! # I heard Aniki shout, startling me awake as I looked around 'It was just a dream' I thought as I relaxed my racing heart

# Yes Aniki do you need something? # I said as I stood up

# Just get over here, now! # He said

# Okay! Okay! # I shouted back, as I started running before stretching out my wings and flying into the air 'You better be okay,'

 **Timeskip**

When I was near Aniki's location I stopped and looked down, it was a small clearing that had primitive hut-like buildings with several small, green, child-sized creatures standing around a sky-blue ball that I could tell was Aniki,

# I'm here what do ya need Aniki? # I said as I hovered, hidden from view, above the village

# I just want you to be on ready in case the battle starts going south, # he said as he began to talk to the beings that looked a lot like goblins now that I think about it, but I discarded that for later and instead looked around with my height advantage

I couldn't really see anything of note, maybe some wolves, but aside from that there isn't anything dangerous, 'well, I could just get comfortable in a nearby tree, and wait for them to do whatever they're planning,'

With that in mind, I perched myself on a decent size tree and began to doze off,

'Lord can you wake me up at when the battle is about to start,' **| very well, |** 'thanks,'

 **Several hours later**

As I woke up from my nap, I looked around 'it's night, well, whoever we're fighting does know how to time an attack, perfect timing even if we weren't expecting them,'

as I looked around I could see that the goblins were standing behind a shoddy looking, wooden fence with bows, while Aniki stood at the only opening in the fence which was in the middle, meaning that the enemy would probably try to strike there,

# Aniki, do ya need any help or should I just sit with my finger up my ass? # I asked as I watched the goblins stand tensely, waiting for their enemies to arrive,

# It would be better if you standby in case they manage to breach the fence, # he said making me pout, 'jeez, he yells at me to hurry over here, and now all I'm doing is sitting on my ass,'

# Fine. # I said as I sat back and waited for the battle to begin, which wasn't that long of a wait, as I heard the sound of howls approaching from the west, making me look to the field west of the village,

There I could see several wolves maybe a hundred, 'it's starting,' I sat up and began to watch the wolf pack as they seemed to analyze their opponents, and after a minute some of the wolves charged Aniki and the goblins,

Only to be cut to ribbons by Aniki's **Steel threads** , and the goblins' arrows, the wolves that did make it past both were easily dispatched before they could do any harm,

"That's my skill **Steel thread** ," Aniki said as his threads shone red with blood 'is he gloating or taunting them,' either way it did get a reaction

"This is your doing?" the wolf that seemed to be the pack leader said, it also had a scar running across its right eye

"That's right!" Aniki said with a tone full of confidence, this seemed to piss the wolf off

"A puny monster like you dares to do this? I will squash you!" it said as it charged forward and used its fangs to cut the threads in its path before trying to leap on Aniki

'Fool,' keyword is "try" as when it leaped it became tangled in a web of **Sticky threads** , the wolf struggled and growled, but its struggle stopped when Aniki separated the wolf's head from its body, this shocked the wolves into a petrified state,

As the threads lowered the rest of the pack leaders body to the ground the only one that dared move was Aniki

"Hear me, Direwolves! Your boss is dead!" He said as he stood over the pack leaders body "I'll give you the choice: submit or die!" 'I'm sorry, but what the fuck is he doing! We could make them run away, why is he doing this shit!'

'They're too quiet, do they have no idea what to do without a pack leader?' I wondered as I spectated the scene, then suddenly Aniki consumed the late pack leader,

 **| Direwolf species skills: "supreme sense of smell", "Thought communication" and "menace" acquired. |** Lord rattled off the skill names, 'is he gonna… '

Then he promptly transformed into a Direwolf, and howled, the howl created shockwaves and gave off a menacing feeling as I heard it, the Direwolves looked like they were trying to reach Aniki, 'do they still want to fight?'

As Aniki stopped howling the entire pack laid down in a submissive posture, "Our pack yields to you." the wolves said in unison 'eh?' I was shocked again for the second time in my life by the pure absurdity of the situation,

# Hey the fights over, you can keep sleeping if you like, # Aniki said snapping me out of my daze, 'I'm not even going to question it' I thought as I got more comfortable in my tree so that I could sleep,

# Goodnight Aniki, # I said in a tired tone, as I fell asleep I heard Aniki gasp 'why did he, oh who cares I'll ask tomorrow….'

 **third POV**

#Goodnight Aniki# the slime heard an incredibly cute sounding girl voice say making him mentally gasp, 'was that Hotaru?' he thought as he watched the goblins celebrate

'well, they do look androgynes and when they started calling me Aniki their voice seemed different from before, maybe Hotaru is a tomboy!' the slime thought excitedly as his mind filled with images of the ero-games he played 'No stop! She's my Imouto, I should never mention this to her,'

 **The next day Hotaru POV**

"Yaaawn… I wonder what's in store for me today," I said out loud as I jumped down from my perch and walked to Aniki who was awake and seemed to be thinking about something,

"Aniki, how are you doing?" I said verbally as I grabbed his slime body and hugged him,

"F-fine! How about you? You didn't get to see any action," he said with a small stutter

"I'm alright, it was kinda boring just sitting around," I stated as I sat down and stared at the rising sun,

"Lord Rimuru!" I heard a voice shout making me turn to it, it was a goblin wearing a red bandana on its head, a pair of ragged pants and a rusty looking set of chainmail over their chest, in their hands was an equally rusty looking sword,

"Who are you!" they asked me, they're shaking, they're afraid

"My name's Hotaru Tempest, Nice to meet you," I said

"M-my, you're Lord rimuru's sister then," I heard an old man say making lean to look behind the first goblin, he was a very old goblin and leaned on a walking stick nearly as tall as him

"W-what are you talking about?" I said

# Hotaru, you're talking in a girl's voice, # Aniki whispered to me 'uh,'

"Well, It is a pleasure meeting you, I'm happy that Aniki could aid you in your time of need," I said bowing my head lightly,

"As is meeting you, Lady Hotaru, Lord Rimuru didn't mention you, but you seem just as strong if not even stronger than him," the elder said

"T-that aside could you please assemble the village," Aniki said,

"Of course, my Lord," The elder said,

* * *

"That's all of them?" I asked to which the elder nodded

"By the way, What's your name?" Aniki asked the elder

"Monsters do not usually have their own names, after all, we do not need names to make ourselves understood," the goblin said 'so that's why Veldora named us, and why I didn't call myself or Aniki by our old names,'

"Still, it makes it less convenient for me to call on you," Aniki said 'Why do I feel like he's gonna say something really stupid now?'

"Okay, then I'll give you all names," Aniki stated 'there it is, there are over a hundred of them Aniki I doubt you have over a hundred names on the tip of your tongue,'

"Are you sure about this? There's quite a few of them," I asked as the elder gathered everyone in a line in front of us

"I'm sure," he said leaving no room for discussion,

"Fine, but don't expect me to help you, this is your choice," I said as I dropped Aniki down on a tree stump next to us, and walked off into the forest,

"Geez, making crazy promises, giving so many people names, but if they all get names then I'll be able to get closer to them," I muttered as I wandered through the forest,

"Hei… "

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"Over here…" I heard a voice say to my left, I activated **"Sense heat source"** , alongside **"Magic sense"** I could see strange Magicules that were coming from the same direction,

"Are you okay?" I asked as I got close to the source of the voice and the Magicules, it was a person, they looked a lot like Astolfo from Fate, their left arm was heavily damaged and showed the same pitch-black color underneath that my body has 'Wait… so does that mean... I'm….naked?'

"Wow, I wasn't expecting a Hird to be the one to come to my rescue, but still I'm just happy anyone came at all," they said their voice also sounds like Astolfo, now that I hear it,

"A Hird? Whatever, Do you want me to take you somewhere safe?" I asked they aren't going to die, they just can't move,

"I have eight cores with me, just take my core along with them and leave this body," they said, as nine slots opened each containing a glowing blue crystal shaped like a diamond, his core was in his chest

"Okay, I'll take care of you," I said as I started to remove the other crystals 'Lord, do I have similar slots to store these cores,' **| Yes. they are located at the stomach and waist, there are a total of 40. |**

'that's a lot of space, well open nine of the ones on my waist,' **| Very well, you can do this yourself similar to the way you do with your firing ports, |**

"So, what happened?" I asked as I grabbed a core with a symbol of a sword stabbed into a rock like Excalibur, and put into a slot and sealed said slot,

"Got jumped by a Majin, but I hide so he didn't find me, my Intake broke so I couldn't heal myself and then I ran out of fuel, " he said as I put away the second to last core, leaving only his

"Really? That aside do you have a name?" I asked

"No, how about you?" he said

"Yes, my name's Hotaru Tempest. Hey, how about I name you,"

"Seriously! Well if you want to then I won't stop you," he said, he seemed shocked, but he hid his shock quickly,

"Then… how about Astolfo?" I said as a glow emitted from his core,

"Astolfo huh… sounds….right, thank you Hotaru, I'm ready," he said, I then removed his core making his eyes widen as the life in them disappeared,

"I hope you don't have to wait too long, I can't wait to learn what more about you," I said as I put his core away, and closed his body's eyes, **| Suggestion, absorbing Astolfo's old form could yield useful material and information, |**

'Good idea,' I thought as I prepared myself, "three… two… one…." I said as my liquid started to flow out of my joints and started the conversion of Astolfo's body, his skin became pale and his hair color dulled to a white and grey color, before turning into metal tendrils and entering my body,

"Aaah!" I screamed as Images began to flash before my eyes, 'no they're blueprints, but for what?' three of the Blueprints stood out, one was of Astolfo's body, the second was of a large container that had a body like mine in it with a follow up showing it now looking like Astolfo, 'Is that how he changed his looks?', the last was of my body, well my model if I was being technical, it had all internal components, with a slot in the center for a Core,

 **| Skills: "Camouflage", "Presence Concealment", "Blacksmithing", and "Air manipulation" acquired. |** Lord said as I struggled to stay on my feet, I balanced myself and started to process all the info that I had been given,

" **Camouflage** and **Presence Concealment** will be pretty good for sneaking around, **BlackSmithing** will help with me make weapons, tools, and armor for the goblins and the wolves, but what could **Air manipulation** help with? And what were those blueprints?" I wondered as I began to walk back to the village

'I could use **Air Manipulation** to make a tornado or maybe deprive enemies of air, I'll have to figure out the effective range of it and how strong it is, if I get the chance I should try to figure out those Blueprints' I thought as I reached the edge of the village,

Only to see that the entire village was in a bit of distress, they seemed worried about something, I walked around till I saw the elder,

"Hey! What's going on? why's everyone running around like headless chickens!" I asked as I walked up to him,

"Apologies lady Hotaru, but your brother has fainted most likely because he named so many of us," the elder said,

"Great, so where is he now?" I asked as I looked around for Aniki,

"F-follow me," the elder said, as he leads me through the village until we came to a stack of pillows with a knocked-out Aniki resting on top, he seemed fine, 'Lord, why could giving people names make him faint?'

 **| It requires Magicules to name a monster, as such as Rimuru is a slime albeit a strong one, he has a lesser amount of Magicules to give, |** Lord said 'okay, how do Aniki and I compare in strength?'

 **| you are able to defeat Rimuru in pure combat strength. Your Magicul capacity is a thousand times his, |** Lord said 'wow, I'm both happy and yet sad,'

 **| why? |** Lord asked 'cause now if I can't defeat an enemy that means he can't either, still we probably won't do much fighting so it doesn't really matter, that aside how long will he be knocked out for?' **| three days. |**

"Well then since he'll wake up in three days," I said as I turned to the elder and his son, and asked, "what names did Aniki give you?"

"My name is Rigurd and my son inherited my older son's name Rigur," Rigurd said

"Well it's nice to meet you again Rigurd, you as well Rigur I hope our time here will be pleasant," I said as I greeted them 'names are power for monsters, I should try to learn all their names, well to the best of my abilities,'

"Now then while he is asleep we should try to organize ourselves, Rigurd, do you know how many people are in the village?" I asked as I looked at the buildings

"There are about 80 Direwolves and about 70 goblins," Rigurd answered 'even if the goblins and the wolves don't take up that much space I doubt the space we have will be enough, building new houses or some basic barracks would be good so that they don't have to sleep outside in the cold,'

"We should gather food and firewood first, who's in charge of hunting?" I asked

"No one my lady, we merely gather food as we can," Rigurd said,

"Okay, who's the pack leader of the direwolves?" I asked,

"That I believe would be Ranga," Rigurd said,

"Can you go and bring him to me and can you also bring you best hunters?" I asked to which he nodded, 'I need to make sure that they don't starve to death before Aniki wakes up,'

"Yes, I shall go fetch him and the others as well," He said Meekly as he left to get Ranga,

'I hope Ranga and his pack will be able to help keep everyone alive,'

"Lady Hotaru, you wanted to see me?" I head a new voice say, 'that was fast,'

"Yes, I want your pack to help gather food for everyone, bring some goblins along, I'll go with you," I said,

"Understood, are the goblins that Rigurd brought the ones you want us to bring?" Ranga asked, making me turn to see that about eight goblins have gathered with bows in their arms and quivers on the backs,

"Indeed," I said as walked up to the goblins, Rigur was there,

"Are you the hunters Rigurd sent?" I asked to which they nodded,

"Ok, the direwolves will let you ride on their backs, so hopefully this will be a good hunt," I say to them,

"We'll do our best!" Rigur said to which the other goblins nodded, 'I hope this life will be easy going,' I thought as I ordered the goblins to mount up as we began our hunting,

 **And that's Chapter 4 sorry it took so long I got a serious case of writer's block at the end here sorry if it kinda sucks at the end, see ya guys later,**


	5. short hiatus

first, I'm not quitting the story or anything I just need some time for school, and to get a checkup since I've been having constant headaches and pains in my forearm so I'm trying to take it easy, (as I type this my arm feels like someones tearing it up with a rusty knife,) but I might be able to finish the first chapter for a new story I've been writing in the background, again I'm sorry, I'll try to get better


	6. Chapter 5

**Welcome back, I'm fine now, you can read the A/N at the end if you want to know what was wrong,**

 **Chapter 5 evolutions and dwarves**

It's been three days since Aniki decided to take a nap, and if I was being honest, uncomfortable is a word too short to describe how I feel about what has happened to goblins and Direwolves,

"Lady Hotaru, I was wondering what we should about clothes, our current clothes are kind of small for us?" a much sexier adult Haruna asked, all the goblins (except a few) evolved into hobgoblins and Goblinas, and their new looks make me really uncomfortable,

"Yeah, I was thinking of asking Rigurd about any way of getting new clothes, after Aniki wakes up," I said looking over at the hobgoblin elder, Rigurd has turned from a scraggly old man into a bodybuilder that looks like he wrestles sharks for fun,

"So, how long till he wakes up?" Haruna asked as we walked into the main hut that Aniki was in, the Goblinas have been taking turns taking care of Aniki,

"Any second now," I said as I sat down on the crude cushions, **| He should be waking up in three… two… one… |**

"Full recovery!" Aniki said as he bounced into life,

"Lord Rimuru! How are you feeling?" Haruna asked leaning down and I could see his blush spread 'perv!' I thought,

"I-I'm fine," He said, 'what's with that stutter,'

"Haruna, how about you go get Rigurd," I suggested,

"Okay!" she said as she left,

"Wait! that was Haruna?" Aniki exclaimed,

"I'll explain it for you, Basically when a monster is named by a stronger being, they evolve, goblins turn into hobgoblins and Goblinas, and the process of naming drains Magicules which is why you passed out," I explained,

"Really! so everyone got super strong after I named them!" Aniki said, to which I nodded,

"Lord Rimuru you are awake," I heard the deep voice of Rigurd say, 'I wonder if Aniki'll stutter when he sees Rigurd,'

"Oh, Rigurd, Hotaru was just- Rigurd! is that really you?" Aniki exclaimed when he saw Rigurd's new appearance, 'really so it's just me who stuttered at the sight of Rigurd's new ultra muscular form, I mean sometimes I can even see- wait no, no, bad Hotaru,' I thought and I was glad that no-one could see the blush that I would've had,

"Yes, it is me! I am overjoyed that you've awoken at last!" Rigurd said, flexing his muscles, 'don't stop flexing,' I thought as plenty of less than respectable things popped into my head, 'oh I'm such a perv,'

"Wow! You look amazing!" Aniki said, before the front of the house was blown apart as Ranga stormed in with a wagging tail, he evolved into something called a Tempest wolf, he's massive now,

"Ranga! What did I tell you about walking around the Village?" I yelled, making the wolf immediately lay down with his ears flat, one problem with Ranga's new powers is that when he runs or wags his tail really fast, it generates air Magicules which form an air tunnel, which will throw something around if it touches it, so I've told him to only walk and try to control his tail wagging around the village.

"I apologize, lady Hotaru I was just so excited that Master's awake, that I couldn't control my self, please forgive me," He said still in his position of submission,

"I'll forgive you this time, but don't forget that you need to be careful," I said as I pet him on his head, making him lightly wage his tail,

"understood Lady Hotaru, I promise to improve," he said with his tail now wagging rapidly 'wait shit!' I thought as I along with Aniki got throw into the air,

"Really as soon as I say I forgive you, you blow me up into the air!" I yelled as I spread out my wings, as Aniki was caught by the hobgoblins who started throwing him up in the air in joy, 'their not that friendly with me,'

# Let it go, for now, he's excited to see me, # Aniki said

# they all are, # I murmured,

# Are you jealous~? # Aniki teased as he was thrown higher than before,

# NO! shut up! # I yelled as I caught him and landed

"Ah Lady Hotaru, how are you?" I heard Rigur say, he now has a pretty decent looking bod now, not overly muscular like Rigurd, but not skinny he's just in that sweet spot for guys in my opinion,

I never liked muscular people, some people might say that a six-pack is attractive, but as a military scientist who routinely is surrounded by people who are at peak fitness, it's heavily over-rated,

"I'm fine, how are you?" I replied,

"I'm doing well, the feast will be ready soon and we were wondering if you would need food?" he asked,

"No thanks, I lack a sense of taste, so it'd just be a waste," I answered,

"Same for me, but that aside how were things while I was unconscious?" Aniki said to Rigur,

"Wonderful, lady Hotaru has been making sure that we have enough food and even built us some buildings for us to sleep in called Barracks!" Rigur said, making Aniki turn to me in what seemed like 'Suspicion! What! Did I do something wrong?'

"How kind of you to help everyone, I'm so proud of you!" Aniki said making me freeze, 'he's proud of me? Yay!' I thought as I was in pure bliss at the praise, though I made sure that he wouldn't notice,

"I just thought it would better for everyone to have someplace to sleep inside, but we still need more supplies, we lack any form of decent clothing, weaponry, equipment, or furniture," I said,

"We can worry about that later, for now, we do what we can," Aniki said, 'makes sense, I shouldn't be worrying about stuff I can't change,' "that aside Rigur could you gather everyone, we have something that we need to announce,"

"I'm on it!" the hobgoblin said as he ran off and began to gather everyone, 'wait is he just gonna bring everyone here,'

 **Timeskip**

After Rigur managed to gather everyone, we waited for everyone to quiet down,

"Lord Rimuru, Has an announcement, quiet down and pay attention!" Rigurd stated

"Now then, I have three ground rules, rule number one: no belittling weaker monsters, Number two: no infighting, number three: no attacking humans!" Aniki said,

"The only time you may hurt a human is if they are trying to kill or hurt you! Any questions" I said making sure that, they knew that self-defense is ok, Gobta raised his hand

"Yes, Gobta?" I said flatly, the guy was a real perv, he even had the audacity to ask if my boobs would get bigger,

"What do ya' mean by no belittling weaker monsters?" The perv asked,

"Imagine if someone made fun of you, or bullied because you're weaker, and then you become stronger than them, you'd probably wanna get revenge," I said clearly with all the confidence of a wise sage, 'gloating about your success is the easiest way to gain enemies,'

"Rigur, what's your question?" Aniki asked

"Why shouldn't we attack humans?" He said

"You dare question lord Rim!-" Rigurd yelled, I silenced him with a wave of my hand.

"Rigurd it's fine, The reason why you shouldn't attack humans is that they live in massive cities, and they have numbers that we can't stand up to, that and we both like them," I said clearly,

"Ok, I understand now!" Rigur said, 'eh! You're not going to ask why we like human?'

"Rigurd, I hereby place you in the position of Goblin lord, serve as a wise and just leader of this village." Aniki declared

"My lord! I will devote my life to serving this position!" Rigurd exclaimed kneeling before Aniki.

"O-ok, now then I believe all our announcement are out of the way, you're all dismissed until the feast is ready, except Rigurd we have some more business," I stated, resting my arms behind my back, everyone just sat there with a confused look on their faces,

"U-uh, that means that you can go back to what you were doing before," I said making everyone release an 'Oh!' and then promptly stood up and slowly dispersed, except Rigurd,

"Lady Hotaru, what was it you wish to discuss?" he said,

"I was wondering if you know of people we could trade with? Since everyone's evolution has made it so that all your clothes are rather small," I explained, the clothes if one could them that, were meant for a goblin, not hobgoblins that are several times their size and so the rags they wore, now barely cover their privates,

"There are some with whom we've traded in the past, they're a handy folk well-versed in the art of building homes!"

"Trading partners huh? Who are they?" Aniki asked

"The dwarves," he responded, 'dwarves, guess that's not too surprising, all things considered,'

"When you say dwarves, you're talking, about the ones that are excellent blacksmiths?" Aniki said excitedly

"Oh, so you're familiar with them?" Rigurd said

"We've never met any, but there was a man who used to tell us about dwarves and their legendary blacksmithing skill," I said

"Truly! Well the dwarf kingdom is a two-months' journey northward along the great river on foot, but with the Tempest wolves it should be much faster," Rigurd said

"I'll go and trade with the dwarves, Rigurd can you gather the necessary people and items for the journey," Aniki said,

"I will prepare everything for tomorrow! my lord," Rigurd said as he left to make the preparations for our trip,

"Aniki when you said "I" don't you mean "We"?" I said,

"Well, I was thinking that maybe you could stay behind and watch over things,"

"That's Rigurd's job, there's no good reason I can't come with, not to mention I'm the most human-looking meaning that they'll probably assume that I'm just wearing an armor," I said, it's true, the outside of my body looks like armor,

"Well, I suppose, but still I'm not quite sure everything will,-" "Rigurd is perfectly able to take care of the village while we take care of much more important stuff, or are you saying you don't trust Rigurd?" I said, if I had a face I'd have a massive shit-eating grin,

"Ok, I get it, you can come along, just don't tell Rigurd," Aniki said, 'if Rigurd had heard that Aniki would be having me stay behind to watch over the village he'd probably feel sad, that I had to stay behind to look out for the village,'

"I don't know what you're talking about?" I said innocently as if I hadn't just blackmailed him,

"Lord Rimuru the feast is ready!" Haruna said entering, with that I picked up Aniki and walked in front of her, I'm a bit taller than the Goblinas, but Rigurd's a head taller than me

"Thank you, Haruna here you can carry Rimuru," I said handing Aniki over as we began walking toward a big fire, the goblins and wolves were already celebrating, 'I guess Aniki does kinda seem like a god, to them, where'd they even get liquor?' I wondered as I watched the goblins

 **The next day**

we're making the final check before we leave for the dwarf kingdom, we've got the healing elixir that Aniki makes and the crystals and metals that I collected so I'm sure that we'll be able to trade at least something for some gold or whatever is used for currency, 'I wonder if the dwarves have aluminum or gallium, Nah they probably think that bauxite is just a useless material,'

"Ok everything looks to be in order, we'll be off, Rigurd we'll see you in a month, take care of the village," I said as I spread my wings,

"I will do my best lady Hotaru, I hope your trip is successful," Rigurd said bowing as we set off with me flying above the tree line,

 **Three days later**

the great river as Rigurd called it, well "The great river" is a good title, it stretches beyond the horizon with a mountain in the distance resting beside it,

# Imouto it's getting dark we should make camp, # Aniki said to me through our Kinsmen link as I'm calling it,

# Ok I'll look for a clearing, # I respond, as I began to scour the forest for a good clearing for a campsite,

* * *

"So Gobta got any more info about the dwarven Kingdom?" I asked we'd already set up a campfire, something of note is that since the path along the river was once well-traveled is that there are still clearings that were cut down back then still haven't fully recovered since the fires have dried up the dirt making it hard for anything to grow, still, nature has reclaimed most of it,

"W-well, the official name is "the armed nation of Dwargon." the perv said, 'not that useful,' "the capital's a beautiful city built into an enormous natural cave," 'that's a bit more useful,'

"And it's not just dwarves there- I saw plenty of elves and humans, too!" the perv said placing extra pressure on the word, elves, and Aniki at the mention of Elves started to mumble the word over and over across the link, 'what? does he have a thing for Elves or something?' I wondered

"I can't wait to see it, but is it possible for monsters like us to just walk in safely?" Aniki asked, 'that's a fair point, but if Gobta could get in, we should have no problem,'

"Nothing to worry about it, Dwargon is a neutral bastion of free trade, by the king's orders, all fighting is forbidden within their borders, from what the tales say the armies of the dwarven king have remained undefeated for a millennium," 'A millennium!'

"They sound pretty strong, but as long as we don't cause any trouble, we should be fine," I said resting against Ranga, 'he's so soft,'

With that, I began to drift off to sleep, # Goodnight Aniki, # I whispered over the link,

 **Two days later** ,

# we're here, # Aniki told me, 'finally jeez, a whole week of traveling is finally over, thank god I don't sweat,'

# This is gonna be so exciting, # I said as I activated my camo and flew down to where everyone was, we're at the very edge of the forest, it's still a good distance to the city,

"Rimuru and I have discussed this and have decided that you'll all hold down the camp," I said, making everyone gain confused and hesitant expressions,

"Yes, from this point onward only me, Hotaru and our guide Gobta will proceed," Aniki said "The rest of you, will camp out at the edge of the forest until we return," they seemed hesitant,

"Don't worry we can easily handle anything that gets in our way," I said as we walked away from them,

* * *

"Damn this is a slow line," I murmured as I looked at the line, it wasn't really big it just seemed like they were taking their sweet time,

"Yeah, security is pretty tight around here," Aniki said,

"Once we're inside, we're free to go anywhere," Gobta said, 'still just how much do they even check, it's like the TSA,'

"Hey! What are monsters doing around here?" I heard a man's say his voice carrying a tone of arrogance with it when I turned to look at the man, there were two men both equally thuggish in appearance,

"We're not inside yet, so we can still kill it, right?" said a man with two scars that formed an X on his right temple, and a bolt attached to his right temple, his voice was different from the first, but it carried the same arrogant tone, 'I wonder if those scars affect his IQ, haha,'

# Aniki, let me handle this, okay? # I asked turning back to Aniki, the travelers in line ahead of us, had fearful expressions on their face, 'I guess they don't like these guys either,

# Just try to settle this peacefully, and if need be, just don't cause any permanent damage, # He responded, 'ok green light, let's go!'

"Hey, you do realize that it's illegal right, after all the King said, "within our borders" no within their city?" I asked in a calm tone,

"This doesn't concern you bitch!" the first man said, as he raised his hand to slap me, he raised his hand to slap a metal object, I was so surprised by his stupidity that I didn't even stop him, and the man promptly smashed his hand against my face, granted all it did was slightly turn my head to the side,

"Aahhh! My hand!" the retard yelled, meanwhile I just slowly turned my head back to face the man,

"Thanks with that I can fight back," I said menacingly as I activated my camo,

"Where'd she go?" scars asked, only for me to appear right in front of him, fist already racing toward him at just barely survivable speed,

"Suprise!" I yelled as my fist made contact with his face sending him flying back,

"Holy shit! Please, don't hurt me-ah!" the other man begging was cut off as my foot made contact with his side, with a resounding snap,

"Jeez, these guys are pathetic," I said as I was lowering my guard only for an axe blade to shatter against my shoulder,

"What! How?" screamed a man most likely the wielder of said axe, his complaint was cut short as I elbowed him in the gut, shattering his chest plate, and knocking the man out,

"Jeez, could someone please bring me a challenge at least," I said as I turned to inspect the axe-wielder, and noticed a mage and a healer practically sweating bullets as my gaze turned to them,

"What, got something to say?" I taunted brushing my shoulder to remove any fragments of the axe,

"F-Fireball!" Shouted the mage launching a ball of flame at me, 'lord can we assimilate the fireball?' **| yes, shall I do so? |** Lord replied, 'yes,'

"Watch out!" I heard someone shout, they're still a bit away so, they couldn't attempt some sort of self-sacrifice,

'not like I needed saving,' I thought as my arm lifted and caught the fireball, and the ball was absorbed into the palm of my hand,

 **| Skill earned: fire magic, Fire magic learned: Fireball |** 'that's weird, I guess, that means I have to do some actual testing, and I have the perfect targets'

"Fireball," I said calmly as a ball of flame launched out from my palm, headed toward the last two enemies,

"Ah! Magic wall," yelled the healer, making an emerald-colored see-through wall appear appeared in front of him and his friend, the shield did it's best, and most likely saved their life, if I was being honest, but they instead of being burnt to a crisp, they got knocked out, shame really,

"There, all done," I said turning back to Aniki, only to have spears in my face, 'shit,'

* * *

"I don't get why I'm in here, it's not like I started it," I said, leaning against the stone wall, that separated the jail cells, Aniki and Gobta are tagging along, the cell's open they're just keeping me here for some reason,

"No, but you did nearly kill them, so I'm just holding you here, don't worry we're not charging you with a crime or anything, still from what witnesses say the guy that slapped you seemed to have broken his hand," the guard captain said laughing,

"So what? you got questions to ask?" I asked,

"I was wondering what you are, you're clearly not human or an elf and you're definitely not a dwarf," he said 'that's a good question, lord?' **| your species name is Storm Sentinel, Storm Sentinels plural, you're a sub-species of normal Sentinels they're called machine spirits by humans, |**

"My kind are called Sentinels, we're spirits," I said, 'they probably wouldn't get the subspecies thing,'

"I've never heard of Sentinels, well I don't think anyone here would know the actual names of Spirits, so do ya have a name that we mortals call you," he said

"humans call us Machine spirits, don't get why, I mean, sure our bodies are metal and stuff, but it's not like we are the spirit of machines," I said, this made the guard captain start to sweat bullets, 'what is there some sort of bad history with my kind and Dwarves?'

"Are you ok? You look like you're about to faint," I said,

"Sorry, it's just that, the last time we encountered your kind, well we still haven't fully recovered from it, but you don't look the same as the last ones we encountered, is there a reason for that?" the captain asked

"Oh, I'm a subspecies of Sentinels, called Storm Sentinels," I explained,

"Really guess that would make sense," he said before the door burst open, and running in came a guard

"Captain, come quick! a terrible accident has happened in the mine, apparently, an Armorsaurus showed up," said the guard, 'an Armorsaurus ain't that though is it?'

"What! We've got to eliminate it before it reaches the city!"

"Actually, That's not the problem, the patrols are already on their way to vanquish the beast. No, the issue is the miners that were extracting magic ore, were terribly injured," the guard explained,

"Garm's group?" the captain exclaimed, 'I feel an opportunity,' I thought as I looked over the room and saw a barrel,

"With the war preparations, we're already low on healing solutions, at this rate," the guard said as I opened the barrel to check its contents, finding it to be empty I silently picked it up and carried it over to Aniki,

"Don't be daft! They're like brothers to me! They're not gonna kick the bucket so easily!" the Captain said, Aniki seemed to have figured out what I was thinking as he began to fill the barrel with his healing elixir, "for now, gather all the herbs you have,"

"So you're low on healing solutions if only there was a merchant who'd be so kind as to offer you a barrel of the best healing elixir there is?" I said, getting the attention of the dwarves,

"What! Where did you get that?" the captain exclaimed,

"Do you want it or not?" I asked,

"Fine," the captain said, to which I sealed the barrel and shouldered it,

"I'll help you carry it," I said, the two dwarves just seemed to accept my declaration,

* * *

After a great deal of running, we came to what looked like a field hospital, it had two guards at the entrance

"Out of the way!" Kaido (the captain) yelled, startling the guards who hastily step aside, once we entered I could see a group of people laying on field beds, they had critical injuries that if it didn't kill them would make them have to quit their job,

"Is that them?" I said to which Kaido nodded, with that, I quickly approached them and set down the barrel and used water manipulation to form a tendril that when it touched their forms began to spread and heal their injuries even one whose arm was almost torn off healed fully,

"Thank you, I'm forever in your debt for this," Kaido said, the sincerity in his voice was moving, 'now he's thankful for what I've done for him, I should easily get some useful info,'

"No problem," I said,

"Come with me, we'll go get your friends and I'll let ya stay in the guest rooms for the night," Kaido offered,

"Thanks," I said,

 **The next day**

"So you need artisans and smiths to help build housing and equipment for your village?" Kaido stated,

"That's the gist of it," I said,

"You don't happen to know one do you?" Aniki asked 'that'd be convenient, though he would know one since he's the captain of the city guard,'

"In that case, I'll introduce you to a skilled blacksmith," Kaido said,

"Thank you!" I said,

"There's no need for thanks," he said,

* * *

"This place is pretty amazing," I murmured it had nearly everything, potions, spell-books, magic staffs, and more, 'shame I don't have any money, I wonder if the ore we gathered from Veldora's cave would be worth a lot, I mean the healing Elixir seems to be priceless, if I was a soldier I would love to have an elixir that would heal any wound,'

"Yeah, Dwargon is a hub for trade, so you could find nearly anything here," Kaido said, as we walked to the blacksmith Kaido knew, I saw something that kinda scared me, it was a shop selling sentinel cores and body parts,

"Kaido, what's that?" I whispered so that only he and Aniki would hear, at my tone Kaido look in the direction I was staring and his eyes widened,

"T-that's, um sorry to say this, but some people sell the parts of sentinels and the crystals are used for jewelry," he explained,

"The crystals are where our souls are," I said low enough for only Aniki to hear, as I looked away from the shop, 'one day I'll burn that place to the ground,' I vowed as we reached what looked like the weapons and armors district,

 **That's a wrap!**

 **I wasn't quite sure if I should end here, but it's already really long, and I figured I'd do this now before my exam period came up and delayed me,**

 **so the headache was a stress type one, and I was stressed since I got writer's block and then the headache came and stressed me out even more, and soon after I posted that there'd be a delay, it went away,**

 **the pain in my arm was a fungus infection, luckily there's a thing for that,**


	7. Chapter 6

**Welcome back, no idea when this chapter will be done, probably in the summer, in which case I hope you're all enjoying the summer,**

 **Chapter 6 the master blacksmith and the Sentinel,**

"Amazing," I said as I looked at the swords displayed in front of a shop, their excellent craftsmanship aside, they emit a dense aura of Magicules like the ore in Veldora's cave, 'Lord are these made from the same kind of ore as what we have?'

 **| Yes the core is made of it, but it's less pure than the refined ore that we have, |** 'I wonder if it's intentional, Lord does the impurity increase the sword strength?' **| in order to determine this we would need to absorb the sword, | '** yeah, no, let's try not to piss people off,'

"Oh, the blacksmith we're meeting made those," Kaido said,

"Really! He must be a legendary blacksmith!" I said excitedly, 'I wonder if I could ask this guy to make me a weapon, It would be awesome to get a poleaxe,'

"Yeah, he must be amazing," Aniki agreed as we entered the smithy,

* * *

"Yo bro! You in here?" Kaido said, catching me off guard, 'bro? So this blacksmith is related to Kaido, surprising, though it may help in getting their aid,' as we walked to the forge we saw a dwarf,

"Kaido? Sorry, I'm busy right now. If it's not urgent could you come back another day?" the dwarf said he was currently making a sword out of the same magic ore as the swords outside, turning from the Smith, the workshop was pretty normal, but I did notice that there was a trio of familiar faces

"Hey, it's the woman from before, Kaijin, she's the one who healed us," Dord said, making Kaijin pause and stand up,

"You have my thanks, but I'm afraid that I can't leave my work for the moment," he said with a curt bow

"What are you doing that's so important? I might be able to help," I said

"I was Commission to make twenty longswords, the problem is I don't have the necessary materials required, so far I've barely been able to make one," he explained, 'they didn't provide materials upfront? Must be incompetent, providing the raw materials up-front means that you don't need to wait as long, as well as reducing costs, and ensures that your order can be finished, at the very least you should provide the rarest of the raw resources, it's like asking someone to make an atom bomb without the radioactive material,'

"That's why those three were in the mine right?" I stated,

"Yeah, but that mine was pretty much stripped," Kaijin explained, as I looked over the area I noticed a lack of anything sentinel other than a display case filled with Sentinel cores, 'interesting, I wonder why he has those, maybe as trophies, doesn't matter I'll have to see about getting them,'

"Those don't count?" Aniki questioned pointing at a pile of long swords,

"No those are just steel swords, the request was for swords made of Magisteel," the blacksmith explained,

"Why? Are Magisteel swords better?" I asked I'm legitimately curious, after all, why make a sword out of a rarer material if it didn't give any greater benefit?

"The swords have a core made of Magisteel which stores and attracts Magic power, it adapts to their wielder and becomes stronger over time," Kaijin said,

"So it's a long term investment, but still shouldn't they have given you a reasonable amount of time, it seems made to be an impossible job," I said getting a reaction from Kaijin, 'so that's what it is, but why would you sabotage one of your most important resources, blacksmiths aren't easily replaced and a legendary one is practically irreplaceable, you won't get another one for decades if not centuries,'

"That would be that slimy minister Vesta's doing, you should've seen him, he even said "What's that? The proud and capable Kaijin is unable to complete such a meager task? Hoh-Hoh-Hoh!" and right in front of the king himself! That miserable rat!" he explained, I could feel for him, being a researcher and all that, but in these times honor and dignity were highly valued, so even if I would've just said that it was impossible, Kaijin couldn't as a legendary blacksmith afford to say no in front of such an important person such as the king, it would ruin his reputation.

"What would happen if someone gave you the Magisteel?" Aniki asked I could see where he's going with this.

"Sad to say, but even if I did have the Magisteel, there's barely enough time to make them all, " he said, 'Perfect!'

"I might be able to help you, can you hand me the sword you've finished?" I said, with Kaijin handing it to me, and I began to deconstruct it, **| do you want to copy this item? Yes/NO |** 'yes,'

"Hey! give that back!" Kaijin yelled and went silent when tendrils came out of my body and formed into 20 longswords. as the excess return to me, I fell onto the ground.

"T-there you go," I said as I sat down on the ground,

"Amazing!" he said making me blush,

"It's nothing, your sword was already amazing, I just copied it, I couldn't have made them be such amazing weapons if not for you, but now onto the payment," I said as I stood up shakily, 'guess doing so much puts a strain on me,'

"What is it? How much are you gonna charge?" he asked,

"Well, 1000 gold coins, but I can give you half off, if you come to help the village, Aneki and I control, " I said, I had gotten a look at the currency and what the pricing was, and a good sword was 10 gold coins, so I figured masterwork Magisteel swords with a 99% purity was worth 50 each, if I was being conservative,

"So fifty per, that's pricey, but with the discount it's almost the same as I'd charge, Deal, I accept I'll head to your village and aid in whatever capacity I can," Kaijin, going over to a small safe and began to gathering coins, they had gold coins that were bigger and worth ten normal gold coins,

"Well, I guess we should celebrate!" Said one of Kaijin's apprentices,

"Well, I still want to purchase some spell books, after that we can celebrate, right Aneki?" I said, turning to my slime brother, making the four people do a spit take,

"B-brother!" Kaijin said having dropped the coins, "but he's a Slime and you're a Sentinel,-"

"We're not related, we're family since we were named by the same person and we were given the same last name," I explained cutting him off, he seemed to nod in understanding or at least didn't want to question it further, and handed me the payment,

"That aside, Kaijin I was wondering if I could take those Sentinel cores off your hands," I said pointing to the cores, he seemed a bit hesitant,

"Sure I guess, why'd ya want them?" he responded, bringing the display over and placing it on a nearby table

"No reason, that aside, do you know any mages or magic casters that would be able to help me pick out some books?" I asked as I placed the cores into slots around my waist and then my stomach, I now have about 12 slots left, 'I hope I can make some forms soon, doesn't feel right to just let them gather dust,'

"Yes there is a magic caster I know of, he's a teacher so he should know some good spell books and the sort, and I think he should be done with lessons by now, come with me," Kaido said to which I nodded and waved goodbye to Aneki and Kaijin,

* * *

"So what elements do you have an aptitude for?" the mage asked,

"I know I can use Fire, but maybe we should check them all?" I said to which the mage made a weird face,

"Ah, well then I'll go get the Aptitude Crystal," He said, climbing a ladder up into what I assume is an attic,

"Thanks, for helping me out Chris, me and my bro owe the lady a lot," Kaido said, 'his name is Chris, is it short for Christian?'

"No problem, I'm happy to help out a friend, ah, here it is," Chris said coming back down with a crystal ball, and placed it on the table,

"Okay, all you need to do is place your hands on the ball and flow mana into it, there'll be a light, when it disappears we'll be able to see your aptitude," he explained, I nodded and placed my hand on the ball and flowed mana into the crystal and it began to glow, the glow became blinding, luckily I don't get blinded since I only see with **Magic sense** , once the light faded, I removed my hands, Kaido and Chris took a couple of seconds to recover,

"Ok, let's what your aptitude is, what… wait, that can't be right…" Chris said staring at the crystal,

"What is it?" I asked, only for him to grab me by the shoulders and start shaking me,

"You have an aptitude for every element, fire, wind, water, earth, light, and dark, it's incredible!" he said, shaking me even harder, making me feel like I was gonna get a concussion,

"Please, stop shaking me," I said as I grabbed his forearms to stop him, "so, that's great that I can use every element, but could you help me get some spellbooks?" I asked trying to finish my business with the crazy mage,

"Yeah, here I have a ton of spell books," He said quickly climbing up to the attic and retrieving a stack of about ten books and then walking over to a bookshelf at the far corner of the room retrieving five more, for a total of 15,

"These are spell books from beginner to expert, I'll give them to you for one hundred gold," he said, 'that's 6-7 gold per book, pretty cheap,'

"Deal," I said, taking out 100 coins and handed them to him after he counted he handed me the books and even a bag to have them in, not that I needed it since I could just store it with **Predator** ,

"Feel free to come back again if you ever need help," the mage said as Kaido and I left his home, to which I waved to him as we walked back to Kaijin's smithy, and I took out one of the books, ' **Light magic for beginners** , what does light magic mean? _Light magic refers to spells such as illusions, searching-magic, and light manipulation._ So it's purely utility-based magic, should be interesting if nothing else,' I thought as I began to skim through it to see what basic things it had,

"Light magic from what I hear isn't common to have an aptitude for, but most people have light magic enchanted items so that they can use spells like **Candlelight** , but most people who have the aptitude either make enchanted items or join a magic academy, I guess you won't be doing either," Kaido said, to which I nodded at his statement,

' _ **Cloak** : a spell that bends light around the target, rendering it invisible, movement in the affected area will cause it to shimmer, the spell can be stationary meaning that it covers an area, or it can follow the target, (beginners are recommended to master area cloaking before moving onto moving the cloak,). _So it's like my **camouflage** , except worse,' I thought as I read about the spell,

 **Kaijin's smithy**

As the strange duo reached the blacksmith shop, Hotaru had read through half the spellbook, there were a few notable ones such as **Fox sleep** , **Doppelganger** , **Hall of mirrors** , **Forest of fog** , and **cloak of death** , the last one was interesting as unless you've seen death or know the caster personally then the spell renders the affected area completely invisible, but if you do meet one of the two requirements then you'll be able to see a shimmer like with an invisible enemy in halo, the spell is easy to use, but the requirement is that you've seen death yourself, so in the old world it'd be the perfect way to peek-

 **Smack**

"Ow, that hurt," I said instinctively after I walked into the door to the Smithy despite the fact I don't feel pain, "Kaido couldn't you have opened the door?"

"I could've, but I wanted to see if you'd actually walk into the door," Kaido said with a laugh, he opened the door after I gave him the closest thing to a death glare I could make, though it probably just looked like I was staring at him, "ladies first," he said, gesturing for me to walk through, with me giving a sarcastic "thank you,"

* * *

"Yo, we're back," I said as I entered the smithy, the four dwarves were having a discussion with Aneki about something when I came in,

"Ah, just who we're looking for, Hotaru this might seem like an odd question, but how do you know that you're a woman?" Kaijin asked, which made me facepalm,

"I just do okay, it's not like I had to check what parts I have, I just know," I responded,

"Ah, well sorry for the strange question, it's just that the sentinels that we've taken apart have never had any reproductive parts, and none have really used he or she when referring to each other, you're the first one we've meet to call themselves a woman," he explained, 'really, you're just gonna casually mention dissecting my people, and what about ones like Astolfo who look female? Maybe it's because they don't know that Sentinels like Astolfo exist, there are probably tons of Sentinels like Astolfo hiding among them, better not blow anyone's cover.'

"Really? That's odd, maybe I'm just special like that," I said, luckily I didn't tell Aniki the specifics of my encounter with Astolfo, so he doesn't know, that Astolfo looked Human.

"That aside apparently the quality of the Magisteel was so impressive that they gave a bonus, so we're going to celebrate at a place called "Butterflies of the Night", my treat," Kaijin said, though he had a look about him that told me that the place was definitely not some regular tavern or restaurant,

"What kinda place is it?" I asked 'Lord can you make a batch of the liquid that was used in the pod blueprint, just enough for the face no more,' alongside the blueprint for the Evolution pod was a chemical mixture that seems to be the catalyst for the transformation into the human-like form, **| yes, however, there's no guarantee that it will be permanent or that it will function correctly, |** 'I suppose, but from what I could see it seems like the process is similar to molting, so either I just gain a stronger version of my current armor or I gain a Human-looking form,'

"It's a place where Beautiful Women ranging from pretty young Things to the mature Types, wait on you by Hand and foot!" Garm, one of Kaijin's apprentices explained, 'damn that makes me wish I was still human, but that's what the Liquid is for, I hope,'

"Okay, I'll tag along, but I need to test something privately do you have anywhere with a mirror?" I asked,

"Follow me," Kaijin said and lead me to what seemed like a fitting room of sorts, it had a full-body mirror,

"Thanks, please tell me when we're leaving," I said and closed the door, 'Lord, is the batch ready?' I asked only for a liquid to begin to cover the front part of my head, my face if I had one, and then began to slowly be absorbed into my metal facepiece,

 **| absorption complete, unlocking facepiece, |** Lord said as a mist sprayed out along the edge of the front and my vision was replaced with the vision of what I assume is the inside of my facepiece,

"Let's see~, who's the fairest in the land~?" I said as I removed the facepiece and looked at my face in the mirror, and as narcissistic as it sounded I would definitely fuck myself, I had a Pale, Oval shaped face with Rosy cheeks, a pair of Sharp Red eyes that seemed to pierce through you, 'I can't even look myself in the eye, I wonder what my parents would think... they'd probably laugh,'

"Lady Hotaru we're going to leave soon, are you coming?" I heard Kaijin ask, 'have I been standing here that long?' **| you've been gawking at yourself for a half-hour, |** 'Oh my god, I shouldn't be aroused by own face,'

"Ah, yes, I'm coming," I said as I walked out of the room,

"Wow!" he screamed turning red,

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, nothing's wrong, it's just that you look amazing," He said making me blush,

"Th-thank you, but let's go to this place you told me about," I said to which he nodded and we went back to the living room,

"Ah Hotaru, what did you test-What! You have a face now! How?" Aneki yelled the trio and Kaido made a variety of sounds,

"Don't you like it?" I said in a shy tone, 'doesn't he like my face? Maybe I should put the facepiece on again,'

"No, you look beautiful! I'm just surprised, you're amazing!" He praised making me Blush, 'he called me beautiful!' I cheered inside,

"Well, shall we go?" I said, with everyone nodding,

 **Butterflies of the night**

"Welcome~!" said a group of beautiful elven women, as we entered, "Kaijin it's wonderful to see you again~,"

"Who's this cutie you've brought?" an elf with chocolate skin said as she got closer to me and placed her hand on my cheek making me turn red,

I-I'm Hotaru Tempest, i-it's nice to meet you," I said, and she leaned into where my ear would be and whispered,

"A pleasure to meet you~, Hotaru~," She said placing her other hand on my shoulder, sliding it down to my hand and entwining it with hers, I could feel myself turn even redder, I could hear Kaijin and the rest snickering,

"I think you should stop teasing her, she looks ready to faint, here have a seat I'll get you something to take the edge off," said the hostess, with the elf leading me to a sitting area,

"Th-thank you," I stuttered as I sat down, 'damn it, stop stuttering, they're just a bunch of incredible sexy elves that are wearing skimpy clothes and are pressing themselves against me,'

"Kaijin when you told me, you found a unique Sentinel, I didn't think she'd be so beautiful and shy," the hostess said, as she handed me a drink,

"Thank you, I'm a Storm Sentinel, I was named by the storm dragon, before he disappeared," I said. In the market I'd heard some people talking about the disappearance of Veldora, even though the government did try to hide it, but there was no way to keep it hidden since such a powerful being suddenly disappearing is bound to cause a tidal wave, like a blackout, everyone can notice how odd it is for the common presence to be gone.

"You met the Storm dragon? What was he like?" Sora, the elf holding my hand asked me, as the hostess handed me a glass of red wine, 'not really my taste, but I doubt that they know how to mix drinks,'

"Loney, he would be after being alone for over three hundred years, he seemed starved for interaction, but he still tried to act all prideful and even tried to deny that he wanted to be our friend," I said, sipping the wine, and to my surprise, I couldn't taste it, 'guess I need a human's sense of taste,'

"Really? I always thought he'd be a terrifying beast that wouldn't hesitate to burn you alive," Sora said, 'well, he is a dragon that was so strong that they had to seal him away, I would imagine they'd demonize him to keep people from trying to free him,'

"Well, I think he might do that if you're the one that imprisoned him, though he did have an attitude, but he was pretty friendly," I said

"Your level tolerance for rude behavior is much higher, he was really aggressive, but that aside, I agree, he was nice," Aneki said, he was resting on the lap of a blonde elf with a chest that would make my sister who was flat as a board, envious beyond measure, 'my sister… I wonder… what's she doing now? Probably still avoiding mom and dad, they've probably already held my funeral, I hope she's taken my death well,'

"I guess you're right, by the way, can you taste your drink?" I said

"Nope, guess it's the same for you," he said to which I chuckled, 'well, wherever she is, I hope she's okay,'

 **Earth, Norway Third POV**

"I'm soRRRRRRRRYyyyyyyyyyyy!" Screamed a man strapped onto a chair as a woman stabbed a knife into his shoulder,

"How remorseful, I'd almost be convinced, if it wasn't for the fact that you were so smug about your sabotage," the woman said wearing a mask with a smile drawn on that hid her look of disgust,

"I told you everything, please no more, no more pain," the man whimpered, a hollow shell of the one proud saboteur famed as the best in the business,

"My brother always told me to honor my agreements, so I'll stop the pain," the woman said as a wicked smile overtook her look of disgust, and grabbed the pistol that rested on the table beside her,

BAAM

"There the pain has stopped, though I suppose so has your mind, not that there was much left," she said as she removed the mask, her eyes a beautiful light brown that radiated a deep sadness, her assets or lack thereof had been the butt of plenty of her late brother, 'I'll kill them all! They took what mattered most from me so I'll take what everything from them, starting with their homes,'

On that day, the capitals of the three superpowers of USA, China and Russia were bombed with an element never seen before, that rapidly turned living tissue into more of itself, and slowly formed an alloy with metals that was stronger and lighter than any other previously known material.

following the message new superpower Norway declared war on its fellow superpowers for sending saboteurs that killed its ruler's brother, having advanced leaps and bounds ahead of all other nation, many nations in the EU swore loyalty to the country, the war is known as the third world war, it is the shortest war of the three, lasting only four years, with Norway as it's victor, having sabotaged all of the missile silos of its opponents at the same time as destroying their capitals.

All three countries were already on the verge of civil war, the declaration of war was the spark, with all three countries fighting threats within and without, they were easily overpowered.

 **And that's a wrap, I really sorry about the long-ass wait, the heat has been pretty bad, I'm built for ice-cold weather, not summer heatwaves, so I've been passed out for the most part, and I've not been motivated to write so it's been a slow summer, I had originally planned to finish two chapters, but I only managed one, and now school started up for me which won't really negatively affect the story, in fact it'll be positive since I need something to keep me in a routine, I don't really know about the side story at the end, but I thought I'd show what happened following Hotaru's demise on Earth, maybe I'll make a full story out of it on fiction press, but that'd be after this story's done.**

 **Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, see ya next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Welcome back, in the year 42069 Agent Mute after millennia has finally released the 7th chapter of his epic tale,**

Chapter 7: The scientist and the Minister

"Hahaha, man, that threw me for a loop! I busted my ass to make that sword, and you made all those copies in seconds!" Kaijin said,

"Yeah, well it's pretty easy to copy metal, but still they would just be a bunch of Magisteel mashed together into the shape of a sword if you hadn't worked so hard on the first one," I half-lied, the swords I made were way higher quality due to the fact that I could sharpen them down to a level most people could only dream of, and I could do it without losing even a tiny bit of material, but the general shape was his work, the details that he made, I only copied them, so in a sense, we both left our mark on the weapons,

"Still with the quality and sharpness, you're in another league compared to any craftsman that I know of,"

As we were celebrating the door chime rang as a new guest came in, I didn't pay much attention to them besides just checking who came in, and suspicious was just one of the words that I could use to describe the man that just entered, he seemed to be taking glances at our group,

He was staring at three of us in particular, Kaijin, Aneki, and me, when he looked at Kaijin it was something close to jealousy, Aneki it was disgust, but when he looked at me it seemed almost predatory, it disturbed me, I'm the predator, not the prey, for him to be so confident, makes me think that he's important enough that he thinks he can't be touched by the common folk, 'a noble most likely, but if he tries something with me he'll end up a pile of guts on the floor,'

"Hotaru, I was wondering are you able to summon weapons?" Kaijin asked, which drew my attention back to our group,

"No, is that some kind of magic?" I replied,

"No, it's something we've seen some Sentinels do, though they've all been high-class ones," he explained, 'I wonder if this is like what my team was trying to do or if they're really generating matter from energy, well I should just ask,'

"What does it look like? And did it stay intact after the sentinel was dead or did it start to disappear," I asked,

"A bright light appears before it starts to form, the weapon grew in a pulsating manner, and there was this weird smell when they did it, and the weapon didn't stay intact, why?"

"That sounds like they're making matter out of pure energy, a very inefficient way to create a weapon,"

"Really how so?"

"If they are making the weapon out of energy the amount of energy required for a weapon let's say a short sword, would be enough to power this city for a week," I stated

"Really, that's not very cost-effective,"

"Indeed, If I was gonna do it I'd just change the air around me into metal, it would be far more cost-effective, though it would be better to just have the metal itself, maybe they did it for intimidation, or as a last resort?"

"Well, either way, it'd be pretty cool if you could do that," Aniki said making me blush,

"Of course! I'll see about that, I could probably do it, it's just a question of how fast, but I would need to come up with a design for the weapon, it would need to be something effective, but still not too costly, Kaijin I'll probably need to take a look at some of your weapons," I said

"Sure, I'd be happy to help," Kaijin replied and we started to drink and banter, the nobleman seemed to be enjoying himself as well, so I decided to forget about him,

"So miss Hotaru, would you like to do this?" Sora said gesturing to a crystal ball in her lap, Aniki started blushing for some reason, 'what's up with him?'

"You're a fortune-teller?" I asked, making Aniki return to normal, 'what did he think she was suggesting?'

"Yes, but I can show you more than that, I could show you who you are meant to be with," she said 'like anything like that is true, even if this is a fantasy world, someone having one true destined lover is impossible,' but just before I could refuse Aniki answered for me,

"Oh, that sounds interesting, to see the person who is destined to capture your heart would be cool," he said,

"Fine, but you're doing it too," I said, as Sora started moving her hand in a circular motion through the air above the crystal, at first nothing happened, but then the crystal started to glow slightly as some as the fog of the crystal began to clear revealing a woman with silver hair, red eyes, and milk-chocolate skin, wearing light armor and wielding a halberd, she was fighting what appeared to be orcs, well the pig type of orcs, not the green skins

"Isn't that the Divine halberd, she's a new A-rank adventurer, she wields a Halberd with a Magisteel blade, rather famous for her strength, and her foul mouth," Kaijin said, I could feel myself blush as I looked at her until I heard someone laugh,

"Hahaha, I see your heart has already been captured," Kaijin teased making me freeze, and I would bet my face was as red as a tomato, and I quickly covered my face, and sora leaned in close to my ear (if I had ears),

"no need to be so embarrassed, after all, it's only natural to fall head over heels for your soulmate,~" she whispered, 'no it's bullshit I didn't just fall for someone at first glance, soul mates are impossible a myth, a lie for the lonely singles who can't find happiness,' I thought as I covered my face and out of sheer embarrassment activated **[Camouflage]** getting a laugh out of everyone,

"Well, it's your turn now!" I said after I composed myself, to which Aniki nodded

"Very well, now then, let's see who mister slime's soulmate is," Sora said as she repeated the process same as before until a woman, she was of average build, with blue eyes and black hair. 'She's pretty cute,'

"Kaijin do ya know who this is?" I asked the smith, to which he nodded,

"I think that's The Conqueror Of Flames, Shizue Izawa, she's a guild hero. She looks like a young girl, but she's been around for decades. I believe she's retired from the guild now and is busy training new warriors off in some country or other," he said

"So she must be pretty strong then, is she stronger than the Divine Halberd?" I asked

"Don't you know that comparing your lover to your brother's lover is poor form~," The hostess said, making my cheeks turn red, then the doorbell chimed, meaning someone had entered, I turned my sight over and saw that another nobleman though he looked to be of higher status than the other one due to his more expensive-looking clothing, he had brown hair, a mustache, and beard, he seemed focused on Kaijin and Aniki,

"Madam! Do you allow the likes of common monsters in your establishment?" He said, 'great he's starting shit, what a surprise, not.'

"But, sir, mister slime is a true gentleman," the Hostess said, though that only seemed to further anger the man,

"What? Are you trying to tell me that slime isn't a monster!" he said,

"Oh Great… it's minister Vesta," Kaijin grumbled, 'so this is the man, well, he sure fits the bill, and a minister shouldn't be voicing his opinion in a semi-public place if it goes against the king's decree, the king decreed that all were welcome so long as they didn't cause trouble,' as I was thinking, Vesta picked up a pitcher of water and started to walk over to us, 'is he about to start something?'

 **Splash**

'Hva i faen! (what the fuck) Hva slags hjernedød kuksuger kaster vann på folk! (what sort of brain-dead cock-sucker throws water on people)' I thought after the fucker threw the water in the pitcher on Aniki, 'what the hell, does this guy even think things through before he does them! Okay calm down, think, he's a prime minister and from what Kaidou said, they're going through a shortage of healing potions preparing for some sort of conflict, we have incredibly high-quality potions, and they're also going through a metal shortage, we have plenty of bargaining chips, and we've already gotten what we need, so we don't really need to stay here, even if we get kicked out of the kingdom we won't miss out on much,'

"Hmph! This is the best a monster deserves," he said,

"What the hell do ya think you're doing?" I asked with venom coating every word, and giving the minister the coldest stare I could manage, which did get him to freeze for a moment, though he did recover quickly,

"I am merely getting rid of a filthy monster,-" he said before I cut him off

"Minister Vesta, that is your title is it not?" to which I received a yes, "correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the king decree that all were welcome within his lands so long as they did not cause trouble?" I asked,

"That may be true, but I believe that was a misinterpretation, I don't believe he meant monsters of low intelligence such as slimes,-"

"So you say, but has the king sought to clarify his decree? Not to mention, do you really think that the guards would let a mindless monster inside? Honestly, someone of your status shouldn't be so brazenly harassing people. You do realize that the king will find out about this. A minister shouldn't be doing this sort of thing period much less doing it so blatantly," I said in a cold tone, the shock he felt from being talked down to, was clear as day,

"How dare you lecture me on how to conduct myself, a no-name sellsword lecturing a minister," he said having lost his composure,

"Well, I've seen plenty of kingdoms fall due to the actions of a foolish minister who blatantly showed disrespect without care for what the consequences could be, honestly if you haven't nearly caused a large scale war before you retire, I'd be surprised," I said honestly, there are plenty of reasons not to be blatant about your opinion other than disrupting the unity of the nation, even if you hate someone, you have to at least be professional when interacting with them, politicians who don't hide their displeasure toward others are destined to cause chaos.

"You'll regret showing such disrespect to me," he grumbled and left, he couldn't do anything without making himself look terrible, though he no doubt already has a terrible relationship with the common folk, course I was a visitor so if he tried something it could hurt foreign relations if a prime minister abused his power over a mild argument with a visitor, even with Dwargon's importance, this is before mass media so even if they made up a lie of some sort that would lessen the damage it would probably only reach the highest levels of society, so it would hurt trade a tad, which they need since they lack both Magisteel and medicine.

"Hahaha! I've never seen him so furious before, if I'd known you were going to do that that I would've sold you my whole smithy," Kaijin laughed,

"Well, he might be a noble, but he ain't much of a politician," I said, he really wasn't, most politicians never go out of their way to start shit, it makes for very good blackmail material, even a noble will lose standing if he acts like a brute, and the only thing nobles have is their standing, Vesta already has a bad rep with the common folk and the military, so losing the support of the nobility would be terrible for him, and messing with merchants selling critical items would hurt his standing with them.

* * *

"Um miss tempest there appears to be someone here for you," the hostess said though her tone told me that this would be trouble, so with a sigh, I stood up and walked to the front door and there was Kaidou with a few guards,

"Hey Kaidou, what's up, the hostess said someone wanted to see to me, and I'm guessing it's you?" I said,

"Sadly no, not quite, we've been asked to take you to the king," he said, which was both worrying and exciting, one reason for the king to be asking for me is because I'm a friendly Sentinel, another is our healing potions, and lastly would be to ask me about the whereabouts of Veldora, though I've only talked about it in the last few hours so for it to get to the king that fast is suspicious, 'maybe that noble from before heard us,'

"Well, let's not keep him waiting, this will be the third royal bloodline I've ever met, I hope this meeting is as friendly as the last two," I said as I followed him,

* * *

"Welcome to my home, I am king Gazel Dwargo, though I am sure you understand that I didn't invite you here just to introduce myself, let's begin the questioning immediately," Gazel said, his voice as strong as he looked, he was a massive man as if his influence as king was manifested as a body of pure power, I followed him to a table with two chairs on the opposite sides of each other, he took a sit and so I did the same,

"Thank you for inviting me, so what did you want to talk about?" I asked

"You are a sentinel Correct?" he asked to which I nodded, "and you are also a subspecies of them called a Storm Sentinel?" he continued, and I nodded again, "You were named by the Storm dragon Veldora?" he asked

"Yes, I assume you are going to ask if I know his whereabouts?" I answered to which he nodded, "I'm sorry to say that I can't disclose his location, however, I can guarantee that he won't be a threat to you, so long as you don't threaten me and my brother," I said, he narrowed his eyes at me, he seemed to be trying gauge my motives,

"And why should I trust you? I know nothing about you or your relation to the Storm dragon, for all I would know, the storm dragon despises you," he said,

"true, but is there any way to prove that you can trust me, even just on this one matter?" I asked, 'I need to keep him from poking around the forest, if what they said about the dwarves and their military strength, then I'd prefer it if they didn't tear the Jura forest apart looking for Veldora,'

"Hmm, then let us have a dual, I have learned that you can see someone's true self when you cross swords with them, I am not saying that you must defeat me, only that you fight to the best of your abilities, however, I shall not be holding back, if you fail to avoid my blade then you will die," he said,

"I'll do my best," I said, he nodded and stood up, and gestured for me to follow, he led me through the building until we reached what looked like a parade ground area, there were a few soldiers training, they were pretty impressive, though as soon as they saw the king they quickly left, only a few stayed, probably higher rank officers,

"Give her a sword," Gazel said, to which one of the officers unsheathed his blade and tossed it to me, I caught it by the handle, and got a better grip on it, 'I may not much experience in sword fighting, but at the very least I can deflect his strikes, and maybe get off a slash or two, I hope,'

"I'm ready, well as ready as I'll ever be," I said to which Gazel nodded to the officers and one of them took a step forward,

"The duel between the Hero king Gazel and…" "Hotaru Tempest," I added when he paused, not knowing my name, "and Hotaru Tempest, begin!" he announced, and Gazel speed toward me, with an overhead strike, which I barely deflected, I then rolled to the left to avoid the follow-up, this continued for a while with me on the defense barely avoiding his attacks, 'I need to get some distance, let's see about this,' I thought as I leaped back and spread my wings and took to air,

"You think the air will protect you!" he said and he jumped into the air after me, even with my wings and air manipulation, he still grazed my side 'What! What! How!',

"Don't forget that you are in the heat of battle!" 'Shit' I thought as Gazel slammed into me and sent me to the ground,

"Faen, this just feels unfair, you really aren't holding back that much, though if you wanted you could've cut me in half," I said as I struggled to get to my feet, **| warning left knee joint is heavily damaged, wings inoperable, folding wings in, warning all motors, hydraulics, and joints are at risk of failure, |** "damn, it seems like you pack one hell of a punch, my whole body is falling apart on the inside, well I guess, I'll have to use everything I can," I said as I forced all my components to go to the max, and shot toward him with an overhead strike, 'I hope I can a hit in even just a tiny cut,'

"A good showing, however, that is not enough to land a hit on me," he said, and blocked my blade with his own, and kicked me away, **| warning all motors, hydraulics, and joints are at the failure point, recommend retreat and repair, |** lord advised as Gazel took up a stance I'd seen once or twice in some samurai posters, "Here I come Hotaru, **Haze: Thunder of Heaven and Earth**!" he shouted as he disappeared, 'wait, thunder, oh crap I hope I'm right,' I thought as took a step back getting my chest grazed by an upward strike, as I lifted sword as if to block a downward strike and braced my other hand on the flat side of the blade, Gazel's blade slammed down on my sword, and I felt internals break, though the sound could've been another indication, though I managed to block the strike,

"Well, done very few have ever blocked that attack, albeit barely, well done, I will trust you on the matter related to the Storm dragon," he said, **| left forearm hydraulics destroyed, left elbow joint destroyed, left bicep hydraulics destroyed, left tricep Hydraulics destroyed right forearm hydraulics destroyed, right elbow joint destroyed,- |** 'lord please stop, I know my internals are ruined, just start the repairs,' **| ok. |**

"Thank you," I said and my knees finally failed and I crumpled to the ground, "though, I would like some help, you kinda broke all my internals, thank god I have **Pain nullification** ," I said and Gazel had some of the officers help prop me up, so I was sitting, "thank you, so was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" I asked,

"Yes, though it will have to wait till you are able to walk at least, are you aware of how long it will take for you to be able to walk?" Gazel asked, 'Lord, how long do you think it will take?' **| if all other repairs are stopped and effort is focused on the repairs necessary for walking, the repairs would take, approximately 8 hours, |** "eight hours, so maybe we can do this tomorrow morning, though I will need a place to stay, got some free space? I kinda don't feel like trying to get a place to sleep while my entire body is broken," I asked, to which some of the officers laughed,

"Of Course I'll have a room prepared, and a servant to help you," Gazel said, one of the officers picked me up in a bridal carry, they also called for a servant, a blonde-haired, pale-skinned, blue-eyed elf with an average chest size, she wore a black military jacket, a black pleated skirt, and matching stockings, and white gloves, and surprisingly black dress shoes,'I guess in a place like this having servants walk around in clothes that don't protect against the elements would be stupid, still dress shoes are an odd choice,'

"Please follow me I'll lead you to one of our guest rooms, my name is Violet Schtrom, but you may call me Violet, shall I refer to you as lady Tempest, my lady, lady Hotaru or simple as Hotaru," Violet said, as she led us, well the guy carrying me, to the guest room, 'did he know that I would have to stay here,'

"I would prefer if you would just call me Hotaru, I would like to take a bath if possible, I haven't had much of a chance to do that before, and even if I don't sweat I'd like to be clean," I said, the facility was amazing it had the classic medieval European design, with wide arches and large glass windows that I could just barely see had metal protective shields for if it ever came under siege,

"I shall draw a bath for you and help you clean yourself. We've arrived, sir Dorf, you may leave her to me," She said opening the door to the guest room, as the now named Dorf laid me down on the bed, he promptly left the room, and closed the door, she helped make me comfortable before leaving for a side room, that was most likely a bathroom,

"Thank you, you know, King Gazel isn't the first royal I've met, the first ones I met were the Norwegian Royal family, and second was the Danish Royal Prince," I said trying to get a response, 'come on take the bait, maids love to eavesdrop, they were the biggest info sources in the medieval days, you've gotta be curious about an unknown people and the fact that I've met royals that you've never heard of,'

"Really, I've never heard of either of them, where are they located?" she asked, I heard the water start running, and splash against the bath

"Far from here, it'd probably take a human's whole life to reach it, though I'd say that Dwargon'd be very amazed by their level of technological advancement, Dwargon seems like it's gone through an industrial revolution as we call it," I said

"Industrial revolution? You mean all the new inventions that we've developed, I suppose calling it a revolution does make sense, as many of the inventions are considered revolutionary, though the industrial part doesn't really make sense as we haven't changed our method of production," She said, 'so they've only partially gone through an industrial revolution, I was wondering why despite their technological advancement, they still use swords and the such,' I thought as the sound falling water stopped and she came out, "the tub is ready," she said as she got close, "I can carry you in and help you bathe if you require my aid,"

"Thank you, it would be much appreciated," I replied, she then scooped me into a bridle carry and moved me to the bathroom, it was a beautiful marble room with a large bath that could fit four with ease, she slowly lowered me into the bath, the warm water covering my body, though my mind was still focused on Dwargon's odd path of tech advancement, 'they should be able to advance to use rifles as primary weapons, I mean Gustavus Adolphus was around during the early 17th century with an army using rifles, about a century before the industrial revolution, at the very least some of their guards should use muskets, those things are super effective at defense, though magic probably made cannons seem like the limit for gunpowder weaponry,'

"So what were they like? The royals you met before?" she said as she started to scrub my body starting with my right arm

"The Danish prince was a nice man, polite, confident, and he had a great understanding of the politics of his country, and he could hold his liquor, quite the funny man to have a drink with, and the Norwegian royal family was very pleasant, the king and queen were kind and well-spoken, the princesses and princes were a mixed bag, though overall I'd say they were an alright group," I said as she started on my other arm,

"Were you born there, you don't seem to be native to these lands, the sentinels we've encountered have either been immediately hostile or fleed, the hostile ones hardly ever talk while the ones that run away disappear before we can even try to talk to them, and even when the hostile one talk, none of it makes sense,"

"they talk as if their king was still alive and saying to release him and to return their king to them, but we've no idea who that could be, after all, king gazel killed their king, the ones that we've managed to talk to have said that they want us to keep "him" away from them, we don't know who it could be, we don't keep any live sentinels, only parts and crystals," she said, her toned changed slightly becoming more what I'd expect from a member of an intel-gathering branch, 'guess she isn't bothering with subtlety now, but if the Crystal that the old king of the sentinels inhabits is still intact then he should still be alive, but his mental state has most likely degraded, sentinels, seem to be social creatures, so his mental state probably has worsened without social interaction,'

"Do you really not know anything about Sentinels?"

"We know that if the crystal is removed or destroyed the sentinel dies, we've never met one to tell us more detailed information," she replied as she poured water over me, 'well I guess since sentinels are basically an ultra high tech robot, dwarfs might be advanced for their time, but the tech that comprises sentinels is on the same level as space travel, and removing the crystal forcibly from a sentinel could have the same result as ripping the CPU out of a computer, you need to do it properly or you'll break something important, but if removing the crystal kills the sentinel how would the king still be alive? Maybe it's a skill he has,'

"Could I take a look at the sentinel king's crystal? I have a theory I would like to test," I asked as she drained the tub and started drying me off, 'it feels really weird being basically paralyzed, damn did Gazel have to break my body so much that I can't even move without help, still, at least I know that he isn't a bad man if he was, he would've taking advantage of my weakness,'

"I will ask his highness, but wherever or not he accepts is up to him," she said, though her tone said that she was hoping for me to ask her that, when one works with top-secret projects you get a feel for these things, 'damn, seems like I'm involved in another classified government issue, well it does involve my species it would be impossible for them not to talk to the only informant about a problem with a species attacking them all the time, though if the old king is still alive then why would he just be sending out a signal for everyone to free him without giving them any sort of plan?'

'Maybe his mental state has deteriorated now to the point that he's just sending out the signal because he was doing it before and just knows it's important?' I thought as she finished drying me off and helped me to bed.

"Have a goodnight's rest," she said as she went to walk out the door

"Same to you, and I'll try to answer any question you might have about my kind," I said as she nodded and closed the door, 'well, tomorrow is gonna be a busy day,' I thought as I drifted off to sleep,

 **7:30 AM Hotaru's POV - 9 hours later**

"So, my brother, Kaijin and his apprentices got arrested because after I left the minister was gloating about "what happens when you oppose your betters", and Kaijin punched, then Kaidou and the guard had to arrest them and now they are being charged with assaulting a noble?" I said my tone filled with exhaustion at the ridiculous news I was just told, 'this is why medieval society is dumb, nobles pretend that they've been chosen by God to rule and use money and sweet words to subdue the common folk,

"Sadly yes, though the trial is already decided, they will be exiled from the country, though it will only be temporary and it won't include you, the trial will be conducted soon and after that, his majesty will meet with you to show you several items that we believe you should understand the meaning of," Violet said, as I stood up, now able to move freely, I was now stuck sitting around doing nothing for at least an hour and a half,

"Can't we just go check out the sentinel king's crystal and he'll send someone to fetch us when the trial is over?" I asked, 'it's a long shot, but maybe she'll say yes, then I'll at least get to check out the crystal and see if any of my theories hold true,'

"I suppose we can, please follow me," She said as she gestured for me to follow her as she walked out the door and began leading me down the hallways of the castle,

* * *

As we walked down the hallways, I could feel a pit begin to form in my stomach, the air felt wrong, and I could sense that Astolfo and the rest of the crystals I had stored were feeling it as well,

"Here we are," she said, as we stopped in front of a heavily reinforced metal door, I could almost feel the pit in my stomach start to drag me down, the dread that I felt was like an anchor pulling me deeper and deeper down into the depths,

"A-are y-you sure t-that t-this is the r-right room," I stuttered as I stared at the door, she was giving me a look, I couldn't hide my fear and dread,

"Is something wrong if you want we can head back and wait for the trial to be over," she suggested sounding legitimately concerned, 'I want to run, but this feels like something that I can't escape,'

"N-no, I think we have to do this, Sooner or later I will have to face this," I said, she nodded and started slowly opened the door, the room was like a massive vault with dozens of sentinel crystals and bodies sealed within magic barriers,

"Wow you guys are really into collecting sentinel remains, do you guys run tests on them?" I wondered as Violet led me further into the room, the area was well guarded, with a duo of guards stand at the ready every fourth row, as we walked deeper into the room we came to an area with even more guards including magic casters, but before I could wonder why they were there I felt the weight I felt grow much heavier, making my knees buckle, luckily Violet caught me before I fell, 'damn what is with this feeling, Lord what's causing it?' **| The feeling is being caused by the king's crystal, due to your close proximity it's influence has an increased effect and is harder to combat, the recommended course is either to flee or to crush the crystal. |**

"it's close," I said as mustered enough strength to stand, "can I get closer to it, I need to do something," I said, Violet seemed hesitant, but nodded and got the guards to back away, I could see the massive amount of spells seals and restraints containing the king's crystal with three magic barriers spaced to stop what appeared to be electricity that the crystal shot out, the ground inside the barriers was scorched,

"What are you going to do?" she said as she walked beside me, her worry clear in her voice, but I couldn't respond as I heard a new voice, one filled with so much sorrow and malice, **# who are you, that would dare challenge me? #** it said, booming as loud as thunder, it's strength was far greater than mine, 'go away, you're a pain in the ass, why do you try to force your control on us even after your death,'

 **# I will always control my subjects for all eternity, that is the way of the sentinel kings, only if you defeat me, will I stop, that is why you are here is it not? To claim your rightful place as the new leader of our people, #** it said, and a part of me felt like it was right, I wanted it gone, 'but I'm nowhere near as strong, how could I ever win?' I doubted as I passed the first barrier that contained it, the electricity avoiding me as I walked,

 **# hahaha, don't worry you might be weaker in physical and magical power, it is your mind that will be tested, and that I can tell is more than a match for me, #** it said as I passed through the second barrier, 'you want me to win, but why? You'll die, don't you want to live?' I questioned, as I walked through the last containment barrier, the electricity scorching the outer armor of my body,

 **# I am long dead, only my unique skill is keeping me alive and poorly at that, but you can change things, our people need a good leader, if you fail I will not hesitate to kill you, #** it said, as I reached the crystal, it's restraints the only thing containing it,

"Violet release the restraints," I said my voice barely louder than a whisper, though she heard me, it took a minute for the restraints to loosen until the crystal was floating freely and started to float closer to me, I reached out my hand and with all my strength I began crushing it, **# let the trial commence! #**

 **Well, that's it for this chapter hope you enjoyed the last part was hard to write, and making things go in a good direction, and the end isn't quite written the way I like, but I've got no idea what I could change, so if anyone has a suggestion feel free to pm me,**


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